C-NRLF 


SB    bbl    fl3fl 


UNIVERSITY  FARM 


THE 


MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN; 


OH,    THE   CULTURE    OF 


PYRAMIDAL  AND   BUSH  FRUIT  TREES. 


"There  is  no  kind  of  fruit,  however  delicious,  that  may  not  be  deteriorated, 
or  however  worthless,  that  may  not  be  ameliorated,  by  particular  modes  of 
management." — DR..  LINDLKY. 


BY  THOMAS  RIVEES. 


FIRST   AMERICAN,    FROM   THE   THIRTEENTH    ENGLISH    EDITION. 


NEW  YORK: 


ORANGE    JUD I)    &    COMPANY, 

41    PARK    ROW. 


PUBLISHER'S   PREFACE. 


A  WOEK  by  the  veteran  pomologist,  THOMAS  RIVERS, 
needs  no  commendation.  That  it  has  passed  through 
thirteen  editions  in  England,  shows  the  high  estima- 
tion in  which  it  is  held  there.  We  republish  it 
without  any  alteration,  and  without  any  attempt  to 
Americanize  it.  No  foreign  work  can  be  taken  by 
the  American  gardener  as  an  absolute  guide,  and 
there  are  many  things  in  this  which  can  have  little 
or  no  application  in  this  country.  Yet  the  work  is 
full  of  practical  suggestions,  and  no  one  who  has  a 
fruit-garden  can  fail  to  find  in  it  many  hints  of  great 
value.  We  have  no  work  that  treats  in  such  detail 
of  the  garden  culture  of  dwarf  pear  trees.  In  this 
country  we  plant  dwarfs,  and  are  dissatisfied  at  the 
results  they  give  in  ordinary  orchard  culture.  Mr. 
RIVERS  truly  says:  "It  must  always  be  recollected 
that  pears  on  quince  stocks  are  strictly  garden  trees, 


vi  PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE. 

and  not  adapted  to  orchards."  Those  who  have  only 
a  limited  space,  and  wish  to  grow  pears,  apples,  and 
other  fruits,  can,  by  the  system  of  pinching  and  root- 
pruning  combined,  keep  their  trees  as  small  as  pot 
specimens.  The  selection  of  varieties  given  here  is 
that  suited  to  Mr.  KIVERS'S  climate  and  locality,  and 
includes  some  that  are  not  considered  valuable  with 
us.  The  American  gardener  will,  of  course,  consult 
home  authorities  in  making  out  his  list  of  varieties. 

YORK,  April,  1866. 


INTRODUCTION. 


MY  attention  was  drawn  to  the  benefits  fruit  trees  derive  from 
root-pruning  and  frequent  removal  about  the  year  1810.  1 
was  then  a  youth,  with  a  most  active  fruit  appetite,  and,  if  a 
tree  bearing  superior  fruit  could  be  discovered  in  my  father's 
orchard-like  nursery,  I  was  very  constant  in  my  visits  to  it. 

In  those  days  there  was  in  the  old  nursery,  first  cropped  with 
trees  by  my  grandfather,  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
a  "  quarter," — i.  e.,  a  piece  of  ground  devoted  to  the  reception 
of  refuse  trees — of  such  trees  as  were  too  small  or  weak  for 
customers,  so  that  in  taking  up  trees  for  orders  during  the  win- 
ter they  were  left,  and  in  spring  all  taken  up  and  transplanted 
to  the  "hospital  quarter,"  as  the  laborers  called  it.  The 
trees  in  this  quarter  were  often  removed — they  were,  in  nur- 
sery parlance,  "driven  together"  when  they  stood  too  thinly 
in  the  ground;  or,  in  other  words,  taken  up,  often  annually, 
and  planted  nearer  together  on  the  same  piece  of  ground.  This 
old  nursery  contained  about  eight  acres,  the  soil  a  deep  reddish 
loam,  inclining  to  clay,  in  which  fruit  trees  flourished  and  grew 
vigorously.  I  soon  found  that  it  was  but  of  little  use  to  look 
among  the  young  free-growing  trees  for  fruit,  but  among -the 
refuse  trees,  and  to  the  "hospital  quarter"  I  was  indebted  for 
many  a  fruit-feast — such  Ribston  Pippins  !  such  Golden  Pippins  1 


yiii  INTRODUCTION. 

When  I  came  to  a  thinking  age,  I  became  anxious  to  know 
why  those  refuse  trees  never  made  strong,  vigorous  shoots 
like  those  growing  in  their  immediate  neighborhood,  and  yet 
nearly  always  bore  good  crops  of  fruit.  Many  years  elapsed 
before  I  saw  "the  reason  why,"  and  long  afterwards  I  was 
advised  by  a  friend,  a  F.  H.  S.,  to  write  a  crude,  short  paper  on 
the  subject,  and  send  it  to  be  read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Horti- 
cultural Society:  this  paper  is  published  in  their  "Transac- 
tions." I  had  then  practised  it  several  years ;  so  that  I  may 
now  claim  a  little  more  attention,  if  the  old  adage  that  "  prac- 
tice makes  perfect  "  be  worthy  of  notice. 

This  little  work  is  not  designed  for  the  gardens  and  gardeners 
of  the  wealthy  and  great,  but  for  those  who  take  a  personal 
interest  in  fruit  tree  culture,  and  who  look  on  their  gardens  as 
a  never-failing  source  of  amusement.  In  some  few  favored 
districts,  fruit  trees,  without  any  extra  care  in  planting  arid 
after-management,  will  bear  good  crops,  and  remain  healthy 
for  many  years.  It  is  not  so  in  gardens  with  unfavorable  soils  ; 
and  they  are  greatly  in  the  majority.  It  is  to  those  possessing 
such,  and  more  particularly  to  the  possessors  of  small  gardens, 
that  the  directions  here  given  may  prove  of  value.  The  object 
constantly  had  in  view  is,  to  make  fruit  trees  healthy  and  fruit- 
ful by  keeping  their  roots  near  the  surface.  The  root-pruning 
and  biennial  removal  so  earnestly  recommended  are  the  proper 
means  to  bring  about  these  results,  as  they  place  the  roots 
within  the  influence  of  the  sun  and  air.  The  ground  over  the 
roots  of  garden  trees,  as  generally  cultivated,  is  dug  once  or 
twice  a  year,  so  that  every  surface-fibre  is  destroyed  and  the 
larger  roots  driven  downwards :  they,  consequently,  imbibe 
crude  watery  sap,  which  leads  to  much  apparent  luxuriance  in 
the  trees.  This  in  the  end  is  fatal  to  their  well-doing,  for  the 
vigorous  shoots  made  annually  are  seldom  or  never  ripened  suf- 
ficiently to  form  blossom-buds.  Canker  then  comes  on,  and 
although  the  trees  do  not  die  they  rarely  give  fruit,  and  in  a 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

few  years  become  victims  of  bad  culture,  existing  in  a  sort  of 
living  death. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  fruit  tree  that  claims  or  deserves  our 
attention  equal  to  a  pear.  How  delicious  is  a  fine  melting  pear 
all  the  winter  months!  and  to  what  a  lengthened  period  in  the 
spring  may  they  be  brought  to  table  !  Till  lately,  Bern-re  Ranee 
has  been  our  best  spring  pear ;  but  this  is  a  most  uncertain 
variety,  rarely  keeping  till  the  end  of  May,  and  often  ripening 
in  January  and  February. 

The  new  Belgian  pears,  raised  many  years  since  by  the  late 
Major  Esperen,  and  more  recently  by  Monsieur  Gregoire,  are 
likely  for  the  present  to  be  the  most  valuable  for  prolonging 
the  season  of  rich  melting  pears ;  and  of  these  Josephine  de 
Malines  and  Bergamotte  d'Esperen  are  especially  deserving  of 
notice ;  they  have  the  excellent  quality  of  ripening  slowly. 
But  improvement  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  yet  take  place ;  for 
pears  are  so  easily  raised  from  seed,  and  so  soon  brought  into 
bearing  by  grafting  or  budding  them  on  the  quince  stock,  that 
new  and  valuable  late  pears  will  soon  be  as  plentiful  as  new 
roses. 

In  the  following  pages  it  will  be  seen  that  I  strongly  advo- 
cate the  culture  of  pyramidal  fruit  trees.  This  is  no  new  idea 
with  me.  I  have  paid  many  visits  to  the  Continental  gardens 
during  the  greater  portion  of  my  active  life  of  business,  and 
have  always  admired  their  pyramidal  trees  when  well  managed, 
and  I  have  for  many  years  cultivated  them  for  my  amusement; 
but,  owing  to  a  seeming  prejudice  against  them  among  some 
English  gardeners,  I  was  for  some  time  deterred  from  recom- 
1  mending  them,  for  I  thought  that  men  older  than  myself  must 
know  better;  and  when  I  heard  some  of  our  market-gardeners 
and  large  fruit-growers  in  the  neighborhood  of  London  scoff 
at  pears  grafted  on  the  quince  stock,  as  giving  fruit  of  very 
inferior  flavor,  I  concluded,  like  an  Englishman,  that  the 

1* 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

foreigners  were  very  ignorant,  and  very  far  behind  us  in  the 
culture  of  fruit  trees. 

It  was  only  hy  repeated  visits  to  foreign  gardens  that  this 
prejudice  was  dispelled ;  and  when  I  saw  the  beautiful  pear 
trees  in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  at  Paris  under  the  management 
of  Monsieur  Cappe,  alluded  to  in  Gardeners'  Chronicle,  No.  28, 
1847,  I  felt  convinced  that  our  neighbors  excelled  us  in  the 
management  of  fruit  trees  adapted  to  the  open  borders  of  our 
gardens.  I  have,  therefore,  endeavored  to  make  the  culture 
of  pyramidal  trees  easy  to  the  uninitiated  ;  and,  having  profited 
largely  by  experience  in  attending  to  it  with  my  own  hands,  I 
trust  that  my  readers  will  benefit  by  the  result. 

A  humid  mild  climate  seems  extremely  favorable  to  the 
well-doing  of  the  pear  on  the  quince  stock.  Jersey,  with  its 
moist  warm  climate,  as  is  well  known,  produces  the  finest  pears 
in  Europe  :  these  are  for  the  most  part  from  trees  on  quince 
stocks.  The  western  coast  of  Scotland,  I  have  reason  to  know, 
is  favorable  for  the  culture  of  pear  trees  on  the  quince  ;  and 
within  these  very  few  years  Ireland  has  proved  remarkably 
so,  more  particularly  in  the  south,  where  some  of  our  finest 
varieties  of  pears  on  quince  stocks  are  cultivated  with  per- 
fect success. 


THE 

MINIATUHE   FRUIT   GARDEN, 

ETC.,  ETC. 


PYRAMID AL  PEAR  TREES  ON  THE  QUINCE  STOCK. 

THERE  is  no  description  of  fruit  tree  more  interest- 
ing to  cultivate  in  our  gardens  than  the  pyramid — a 
name  adopted  from  the  French,  the  originators  of  this 
species  of  culture.  The  word  conical  would,  perhaps, 
convey  a  better  idea  of  the  shape  of  such  trees,  but  as 
pyramidal  trees  are  now  becoming  familiar  things  in 
English  gardens,  it  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  attempt 
to  give  a  new  name  to  these  very  pretty  garden  trees. 

For  gardens  with  a  moderately  deep  and  fertile  soil, 
pears  budded  on  the  quince  stock  will  be  found  to 
make  by  far  the  most  fruitful  and  quick-bearing  trees  ; 
indeed,  if  prepared  by  one  or  two  removals,  their  roots 
become  a  perfect  mass  of  fibers,  and  their  stems  and 
branches  full  of  blossom-buds.  Trees  of  this  descrip- 
tion may  be  planted  in  the  autumn,  with  the  certainty 
of  having  a  crop  of  fruit  the  first  season  after  plant- 
ing,— always  recollecting  that  a  spring  frost  may  de- 
stroy the  blossoms  unless  the  trees  are  protected.  It 
must  always  be  recollected  that  pears  on  quince 
i 


2  THE   MINIATURE   FEUIT   GARDEN. 

stocks  are  strictly  garden  trees,  and  not  adapted  for 
orchards. 

The  most  eligible  season  for  planting  pyramidal 
pear  trees  is  during  the  months  of  November  and  De- 
cember, but  they  may  be  planted  even  until  the  end 
of  March ;  in  planting  so  late,  no  fruit  must  be  ex- 
pected the  first  season.  Still,  I  ought  to  say  here  that 
I  have  frequently  removed  pear  trees  on  the  quince 
stock  in  March  and  April  just  as  the  blossom-buds 
were  bursting,  and  have  had  fine  fruit  the  same  sea- 
son, particularly  if  sharp  frosts  occurred  in  May.  The 
buds  being  retarded,  the  blossoms  opened  after  the 
usual  period,  and  thus  escaped.  The  experiment  is 
quite  worth  trying  in  seasons  when  the  buds  swell 
very  early. 

If  root-pruned  pyramidal  trees  be  planted,  it  will 
much  assist  them  if  about  half  the  blossom-buds  are 
thinned  out  with  a  penknife  just  before  they  open  ; 
otherwise  these  root-pruned  trees  on  the  quince  stock 
are  so  full  of  them  that  the  tree  receives  a  check  in 
supporting  such  an  abundance  of  bloom.  About  ten 
or  fifteen  fruit  may  be  permitted  to  ripen  the  first 
season  ;  the  following  season  two  or  three  dozen  will 
be  as  many  as  the  tree  ought  to  be  allowed  to  bring  to 
perfection ;  increasing  the  number  as  the  tree  increases 
in  vigor,  always  remembering  that  a  few  full-sized 
and  well- ripened  pears  are  to  be  preferred  to  a  greater 
number  inferior  in  size  and  quality. 

In  the  engraving  at  the  commencement  of  this  little 
volume  I  have  given  a  faithful  portrait  of  a  pyramidal 
tree  of  the  Beurre  de  Capiaumont  pear,  budded  on 
the  quince  :  this  was  taken  in  1846  ;  the  tree  was  then 


PYRAMIDAL  PEAR   TREES,  3 

about  ten  years  old,  and  had  been  root-pruned  three 
times.  Nothing  could  be  more  interesting  than  this 
tree,  only  six  feet  high,  laden  with  fruit  of  extraordi- 
nary beauty ;  for  in  my  soil,  pears  on  quince  stocks 
produce  fruit  of  much  greater  beauty  and  of  finer  fla- 
vor than  those  on  pear  stocks.  I  have,  however, 
introduced  the  figure  as  much  to  show  its  imperfec- 
tion as  its  beauty  :  it  will  be  observed  that  its  lower 
tiers  of  branches  are  not  sufficiently  developed ;  this 
was  owing  to  neglect  when  the  tree  was  young — the 
upper  branches  were  suffered  to  grow  too  luxuriantly. 
Summer  pinching  in  the  youth  of  the  tree  is  the  only 
remedy  for  this  defect,  if  it  be  not  well  furnished  be- 
low ;  and  a  severe  remedy  it  is,  for  all  the  young  shoots 
on  the  upper  tiers,  including  the  leader,  must  be 
pinched  closely  in  May  and  June,  till  the  lower  ones 
have  made  young  shoots  of  a  sufficient  length  to  give 
uniformity  to  the  tree.  This  requires  much  attention. 
The  quenouille,  or  tying-down  system,  is  not  prac- 
ticed in  France  at  the  present  day ;  and,  in.  truth,  it 
does  look  very  barbarous  and  unnatural.  The  trees 
trained  in  this  manner  in  the  Potagerie  at  Versailles 
are  mostly  on  quince  stocks  ;  they  are  from  twenty  to 
forty  years  old,  and  are  very  productive,  but  very 
ugly ;  all  the  shoots  from  the  horizontal  and  depressed 
branches  are  cropped  off  apparently  in  July,  as  M. 
Puteau,  the  director,  is,  I  believe,  adverse  to  the 
pinching  system  of  M.  Cappe.  I  have  not  for  many 
years  observed  a  single  quenouille  in  Belgium :  all  are 
pyramids,  even  in  the  gardens  of  the  cottagers,  and  in 
general  they  are  very  beautiful  and  productive  trees. 
In  many  cases,  when  on  the  pear-stock,  they  are  too 


4  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

luxuriant,  and   require  root-pruning ;  but  this  is  not 
understood  by  continental  fruit-tree  cultivators. 

Pyramids  and  bushes  are  the  trees  best  adapted  for 
small  gardens,  and  not  standards  such  as  are  planted 
in  orchards.  To  those  conversant  with  such  matters, 
I  need  only  point  to  the  very  numerous  instances  of 
rich  garden  ground  entirely  ruined  by  being  shaded 
by  large  spreading  standard,  or  half-standard  unpruned 
fruit  trees.  Now,  by  cultivating  pyramidal  pears  on 
the  quince — apples  in  the  same  form  on  the  paradise 
stock — the  cherry  as  pyramids  and  dwarf  bushes  on 
the  Cerasus  Mahaleb — and  the  plum  as  a  pyramidal 
tree — scarcely  any  ground  will  be  shaded,  and  more 
abundant  crops  and  finer  fruit  will  be  obtained. 

THE  YOUNG  PYRAMID. 

If  a  young  gardener  intends  to  plant,  and  wishes 
to  train  up  his  trees  so  that  they  will  become  quite 
perfect  in  shape,  he  should  select  plants,  one  year 
old  from  the  bud  or  graft,  with  single  upright  stems  ; 
these  will,  of  course,  have  good  buds  down  to  the 
junction  of  the  graft  with  the  stock.  The  first  spring, 
a  tree  of  this  description  should  be  headed  down,  so 
as  to  leave  the  stem  about  eighteen  inches  long.  If 
the  soil  be  rich,  from  five  to  six  and  seven  shoots  will 
be  produced  p  one  of  these  must  be  made  the  leader, 
and  if  not  inclined  to  be  quite  perpendicular,  it  must 
be  fastened  to  a  stake.  As  soon,  in  summer,  as  the 
leading  shoot  is  ten  inches  long,  its  end  must  be 
pinched  off;  and  if  it  pushes  forth  two  or  more  shoots, 
pinch  oft'  all  but  one  to  three  leaves,  leaving  the  top- 
most for  a  leader.  The  side  shoots  will,  in  most  cases 


THE   YOUNG   PYRAMID.  5 

assume  a  regular  shape ;  if  not,  they  may  be  this  first 
season  tied  to  slight  stakes  to  make  them  grow  in  the 
proper  direction.  This  is  best  done  by  bringing  down 
and  fastening  the  end  of  each  shoot  to  a  slight  stake, 
so  that  an  open  pyramid  may  be  formed — for  if  it  is 
too  close  and  cypress-like,  enough  air  is  not  admitted 


to  the  fruit.  They  may  remain  unpruned  till  the  end 
of  August,  when  each  shoot  must  be  shortened  to  with- 
in eight  buds  of  the  stem.  This  will  leave  the  tree 
like  the  preceding  figure  (Fig.  1),  and  no  pruning  in 
winter  will  be  required. 

The  second  season  the   tree  will  make 
growth :  the   side   shoots   which    were    topped 


last 


6  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT  GARDEN. 

August  will  each  put  forth  three,  four,  or  more 
shoots.  In  June,  as  soon  as  these  have  made  four 
leaves,  they  must  be  pinched  off  to  three  leaves, 
and  if  these  spurs  put  forth  shoots,  which  they 
often  do,  every  shoot  must  be  pinched  down  to  one 
leaf,  all  lut  the  leading  shoot  of  each  side  branch; 
this  must  be  left  on  to  exhaust  the  tree  of  its  super- 
abundant sap,  till  the  end  of  August.  The  perpen- 
dicular leader  must  be  topped  once  or  twice  ;  in  short, 
as  soon  as  it  has  grown  ten  inches,  pinch  off  its  top, 
and  if  it  break  into  two  or  three  shoots,  pinch  them 
all  but  the  leader,  as  directed  for  the  first  season  ;  in 
a  few  years  most  symmetrical  trees  may  be  formed. 

When  they  have  attained  the  height  of  six  or  eight 
feet,  and  are  still  in  a  vigorous  state,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  commence  root-pruning,  to  bring  them  into  a 
fruitful  state. 

If  some  of  the  buds  in  the  stem  of  a  young  tree 
prove  dormant,  so  that  part  of  it  is  bare  and  without 
a  shoot  where  there  should  be  one,  a  notch,  half  an 
inch  wide,  and  nearly  the  same  in  depth,  should  be 
cut  in  the  stem  just  above  the  dormant  bud.  If  this 
be  done  in  February,  a  young  shoot  will  break  out 
in  the  summer.1 

I  have  thus  far  given  directions  for  those  who  are 
inclined  to  rear  their  own  pyramids.  Time  and  at- 
tention are  required,  but  the  interest  attached  to  well- 
trained  pyramids  will  amply  repay  the  young  cultiva- 
tor. 

1  Bare  places  in  the  stems  of  pyramids,  and  in  the  branches  of  espaliers  or  wall 
trees,  may  be  budded  toward  the  end  of  August  with  blossom-buds  taken  from 
shoots  two  years  old.  This  is  a  very  interesting  mode  of  furnishing  a  tree  with 
li-uii-bearing  buds. 


THE   MATURE   PYRAMID. 


THE    MATURE    PYRAMID. 


The  annexed  figure  (Fig.  2)  is  a  pyramidal  tree 
in  its  second  and  third  year,  and  such  as  it  ought  to 
be  in  July  before  its  leading  side  shoots  and  leading 


FIG.  2. 


upright  shoot  are  shortened.  This,  as  I  have  said,  is 
best  done  toward  the  end  of  August.  The  shorten- 
ing must  be  made  at  the  marks  —  ;  all  the  side  shoots 
must  be  shortened  in  this  manner,  and  the  leading 


g  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

shoots ;  no  further  pruning  will  be  required  till  the 
following  summer.  The  spurs  «,  a,  a,  are  the  bases 
of  the  shoots  that  have  been  pinched  in  June  ;  these 
will  the  following  season  form  fruit-bearing  spurs. 
The  best  instrument  for  summer  and  autumnal  pru- 
ning is  a  pair  of  hooked  pruning  scissors,  called  also 
"rose  nippers." 

SUMMEK   PESTCHIKG. 

As  the  summer  pinching  of  pyramidal  pears  is  the 
most  interesting  feature  in  their  culture,  and  perhaps 
the  most  agreeable  of  all  horticultural  occupations,  I 
must  endeavor  to  give  plain  instructions  to  carry  it 
out. 

The  first  season  after  the  planting,  about  the  mid- 
dle or  end  of  June,  the  side  buds  and  branches  will 
put  forth  young  shoots ;  each  will  give  from  one  to 
three  or  four.  Select  that  which  is  most  horizontal 
in  its  growth  (it  should  be  on  the  lower  part  of  the 
branch,  as  the  tree  will  then  be  more  inclined  to 
spread)  for  a  leader  to  that  branch,  and  pinch  off  all 
the  others  to  three  leaves  (see  Fig.  2,  a,  a,  a).  If  these 
pinched  shoots  again  push,  suffer  them  to  make  three 
leaves,  and  then  pinch  them  to  two  leaves ;  but  if  the 
horizontal  branch  has  a  good  leader,  it  will  take  off 
all  the  superfluous  sap,  and  prevent  the  pinched  spurs 
from  breaking;  the  buds  will  only  swell,  and  the  fol- 
lowing season  they  will  be  fruit  spurs.  The  upper 
shoots  of  the  tree,  say  to  about  two  feet  from  its  top, 
should  be  pinched  a  week  before  the  lower  shoots : 
this  gives  strength  to  those  on  the  lower  part  of  the 
tree. 


SUMMER   PINCHING. 


Fig.  3  is  a  side  branch  in  June,  with  its  shoots  not 
yet  pinched ;  Fig.  4  is  a  side  branch  with  its  shoots 
a,  a,  pinched  in  June ;  5  is  the  leader  of  the  side 
branch,  which  should  be  pinched  or  cut  off  at  the  end 
of  August  to  o. 


FIG.  3. 


FIG.  4. 


In  spring  the  perpendicular  leader  of  the  preceding 
year's  growth  will  put  forth  numerous  shoots,  which 
must  be  pinched  in  June  in  the  following  manner : 
those  nearest  the  base,  leave  six  inches  in  length, 
gradually  decreasing  upward,  leaving  those  next  the 
young  leading  shoot  only  two  inches  long.  The 
1* 


10  THE  MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

leader  of  these  ready -formed  pyramids  need  not  be 
shortened  in  summer,  as  directed  for  younger  trees  ; 
it  may  be  suffered  to  grow  till  the  horizontal  leaders 
are  shortened  in  August,  and  then  left  six  or  eight 
inches  in  length ;  but  if  the  trees  are  to  be  kept  to 
six  or  seven  feet  in  height  under  root-pruning,  this 
leading  shoot  may  be  shortened  to  two  inches,  or  even 
cut  close  down  to  its  base.  For  tall  pyramids  of  ten, 
twelve,  or  fifteen  feet,  it  may  be  left  from  eight  to  ten 
inches  in  length  till  the  required  height  be  attained  ; 
it  may  then  be  cut  to  within  two  inches  of  its  base 
every  season. 

I  ought  here  to  remark  that  pear  trees  differ  in 
their  habits  to  an  extraordinary  degree :  some  make 
shoots  most  robust  and  vigorous ;  others,  under  pre- 
cisely the  same  treatment,  are  very  delicate  and  slen- 
der. In  the  final  shortening  in  August  this  must  be 
attended  to ;  those  that  are  very  vigorous  must  not 
have  their  shoots  pruned  so  closely  as  those  that  are 
less  so  ;  indeed,  almost  every  variety  will  require  some 
little  modification  in  pruning,  of  which  experience  is 
by  far  the  best  teacher.  It  will,  I  think,  suffice,  if  I 
give  the  following  directions  for  shortening  the  lead- 
ers of  the  side  shoots,  and  the  perpendicular  lead- 
ers: — All  those  that  are  very  robust,  such  as  Beurre 
d'Amanlis,  Vicar  of  Winkfield,  Beurre  Diel,  &c., 
shorten  to  eight  or  ten  inches,  according  to  the  vigor 
of  the  individual  tree  ;  those  of  medium  vigor,  such 
as  Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey,  Marie  Louise,  and  Beurre 
d'Aremburg,  to  six  inches;  those  that  are  delicate 
and  slender  in  their  growth,  like  Winter  ISTelis,  to 
four  inches ;  but  I  must  repeat  that  regard  must  be 


COMPACT  PYRAMIDS. 


had  to  the  vigor  of  the  tree.  If  the  soil  be  rich,  the 
trees  vigorous,  and  not  root-pruned,  the  shoots  may 
be  left  the  maximum  length  ;  if,  on  the  contrary, 
they  be  root-pruned,  and  not  inclined  to  vigorous 
growth,  they  must  be  pruned  more  closely. 


COMPACT   PYRAMIDS. 

If  pyramidal  fruit  trees,  either  of  pears,  apples, 
plums,  or  cherries,  are  biennially  removed,  or  even 
thoroughly  root-pruned,  without  actually  removing 
them,  summer  pinching  becomes  the  most  simple  of 
all  operations.  The  cultivator  has  only  to  look  over 
his  trees  twice  a  week  during  June,  July,  and  August 
(penknife  in  hand),  and  cut  or  pinch  in  every  shoot 
on  the  lateral  or  side  branches  that  has  made  four 
leaves  or  more,  down  to  three  full-sized  leaves.  It  is 
just  possible  that  the  three  buds  belonging  to  these 
three  leaves  will  put  forth  three  young  shoots  :  as 
soon  as  they  have  made  their  four  or  five  leaves,  they 
must  be  shortened  to  two,  and  so  on  with  every  young 
shoot  made  during  the  summer,  shortening  the  lead- 
ing shoot  also  to  three  leaves.  This  method  of  close 
pinching  represses  the  vigor  of  the  tree  to  a  great 
extent,  and,  in  soils  that  are  not  very  rich,  trees  under 
it  will  not  require  root-pruning.  It  is  a  most  agree- 
able method  of  treating  pyramidal  trees,  for  no  strag- 
gling shoots  are  seen,  and  in  small  neatly-kept  gar- 
dens this  is  a  great  relief.  The  pinched  shoots  in 
these  compact  pyramids  become  too  much  crowded 
with  blossom-spurs,  they  should  therefore  be  thinned 
in  winter  with  a  sharp  pruning-knife. 


12  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

ROOT-PRUNING   OF    PYRAMIDAL    PEAR    TREES    ON    QUINCE 
STOCKS. 

Before  entering  on  the  subject  of  root-pruning  of 
pear  trees  on  quince  stocks,  I  must  premise  that 
handsome  and  fertile  pyramids,  more  particularly  of 
some  free-bearing  varieties,  may  be  reared  without 
this  annual  or  biennial  operation.  If  the  annual 
shoots  of  the  tree  are  not  more  than  eight  or  ten 
inches  long,  no  root  pruning  need  be  done.  I  have 
a  large  plantation  of  pear  trees  on  the  quince  stock, 
which  have  been  made  very  handsome  and  fertile 
pyramids,  yet  they  have  not  been  root-pruned,  neither 
do  I  intend  to  root-prune  them.  But  I  wish  to  im- 
press upon  my  readers  that  my  principal  object  is  to 
make  trees  fit  for  small  gardens,  and  to  instruct  those 
who  are  not  blessed  with  a  large  garden,  how  to  keep 
the  trees  perfectly  under  control :  and  this  can  best 
be  done  by  annual,  or  at  least  biennial  attention  to 
their  roots ;  for  if  a  tree  be  suffered  to  grow  three  or 
more  years,  and  then  be  root-pruned,  it  will  re- 
ceive a  check  if  the  spring  be  dry,  and  the  crop  of 
fruit  for  one  season  will  be  jeopardized.  Therefore, 
those  who  are  disinclined  to  the  annual  operation, 
and  yet  wish  to  confine  the  growth  of  their  trees 
within  limited  bounds  by  root-pruning — say  once  in 
two  years — should  only  operate  upon  half  of  their 
trees  one  season  ;*  they  will  thus  have  the  remain- 

i  In  The  Journal  of  Horticulture  for  1S62.  pr;<re  531,  Mr.  Leo,  of  Clevedon, 
gives  an  account,  of  his  root-pruning  practice,  which  he  curries  out  extensively  on 
some  hundreds  of  trees.  It  appears  to  be  an  alternate  system  of  root-pruiun;".  and 
maybe  done  as  follows: — Open  a  semicircular  trench  on  one  side  of  the  live,  and 
I  n;n  •  all  the  ",.ois  iJiat  can  be  got  at;  the  following  season  open  a  trench  of  the 


ROOT   PRUNING.  13 

ing  half  in  an  unchecked  bearing  state ;  and  those 
who  have  ample  room  and  space  may  pinch  their 
pyramids  in  summer,  and  suffer  them  to  grow  to  a 
height  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  without  pruning  their 
roots.  I  have  seen  avenues  of  such  trees  in  Belgium, 
really  quite  imposing.  In  rich  soils,  where  the  trees 
grow  so  freely  as  to  make  shoots  eighteen  inches  in 
length  in  one  season,  they  may  be  root-pruned  an- 
nually with  great  advantage. 

The  following  summary  will  perhaps  convey  my 
ideas  respecting  the  management  of  pyramids  and 
bushes  when  cultivated  as  garden  trees.  In  small 
gardens  with  rich  soils,  either  root-prune  or  remove 
all  the  trees  annually  early  in  November.  In  larger 
gardens  perform  the  same  operation  biennially  at 
the  same  season.  For  very  large  gardens  with  a  dry, 
good  sub-soil,  in  which  all  kinds  of  fruit  trees  grow 
without  any  tendency  to  canker,  and  when  large  trees 
are  desired,  neither  remove  nor  root-prune,  but  pinch 
the  si  loots  in  summer,  thin  them  in  winter  when  they 
become  crowded,  and  thus  make  your  trees  symmet- 
rical and  fruitful. 

Pyramidal  pear  trees  on  the  quince  stock,  where 
the  fruit  gar  den  is  small,  the  soil  rich,  and  when  the 
real  gardening  artist  feels  pleasure  in  keeping  them 
in  a  healthy  and  fruitful  state  by  perfect  control  over 
the  roots,  should  be  annually  operated  upon  as  fol- 
lows : — A  trench  should  be  dug  round  the  tree,  about 
eighteen  inches  from  its  stem,  every  autumn,  just 

same  shape  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  tree  (so  as  to  complete  the  circle),  and 
prune  all  that  can  be  found  there.  By  this  simple  method  the  tree  is  never 
checked  seriously  in  its  growth,  yet  enough  to  make  it  form  abundance  of  blos- 
som-buds. 


14:  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

after  the  fruit  is  gathered,  if  the  soil  be  sufficiently 
moist, — if  not,  it  will  be  better  to  wait  till  the  usual 
autumnal  rains  have  fallen  ;  the  roots  should  then  be 
carefully  examined,  and  those  inclined  to  be  of  per- 
pendicular growth  cut  with  the  spade,  which  must  be 
introduced  quite  under  the  tree  to  meet  on  all  sides, 
so  that  no  root  can  possibly  escape  amputation.  All 
the  horizontal  roots  should  be  shortened  with  a  knife 
to  within  a  circle  of  eighteen  inches  from  the  stem,1 
and  all  brought  as  near  to  the  surface  as  possible, 
filling  in  the  trench  with  compost  for  the  roots  to  rest 
on.  The  trench  may  then  be  filled  with  the  compost 
(well -rotted  dung  and  the  mould  from  an  old  hotbed, 
equal  parts,  will  answer  exceedingly  well)  •  the  sur- 
face should  then  be  covered  with  some  half-rotted 
dung  and  the  roots  left  till  the  following  autumn 
brings  its  annual  care.  It  may  be  found  that  after  a 
few  years  of  root-pruning,  the  circumferential  mass  of 
fibers  will  have  become  too  much  crowded  with  small 
roots ;  in  such  cases,  thin  out  some  of  the  roots, 
shortening  them  at  nine  inches  or  one  foot  from  the 
stem.  This  will  cause  them  to  give  out  fibers,  so  that 
the  entire  circle  of  three  feet  or  more  round  the  tree 
will  be  full  of  fibrous  roots  near  the  surface,  waiting 
with  open  mouths  for  the  nourishment  annually  given 
to  them  by  surface  dressings  and  liquid  manure. 

Thus  far  for  the  gardener  who  does  not  mind  extra 
trouble, — who,  in  short,  feels  real  pleasure  in  every 
operation  that  tends  to  make  his  trees  perfect  in  fruit- 
fulness  and  symmetry.  13ut  it  is  not  every  amateur 

1  If  they  have  not  spread  to  this  extent  the  first  season,  or  even  the  second, 
they  need  not  be  pruned,  but  merely  brouirht  near  to  the  surface  and  spread  out. 


ROOT   PRUNING.  15 

gardener  that  can  do  this,  nor  is  it  always  required  in 
the  south  of  England,  except  for  small  gardens  and 
in  rich  moist  soils,  in  which  pear  trees  are  inclined 
to  grow  too  vigorously.  But  with  our  too  often  cool 
moist  summers  in  the  northern  counties,  annual  root- 
pruning  is  quite  necessary  to  make  the  trees  produce 
well-ripened  wood.  In  other  cases,  as  I  have  before 
observed,  shortening  the  shoots  in  summer,  taking 
care  to  produce  a  handsome  pyramidal  form,  and  if 
they  are  inclined  to  grow  vigorously,  biennial  root- 
pruning  will  be  quite  sufficient. 

The  following  will  be  found  a  good  selection  of 
varieties  for  pyramidal  trees  on  quince  stocks.  They 
may  be  planted  in  rows,  five  to  six  feet  apart,  or  a 
square  may  be  allotted  to  them,  giving  each  plant  five 
or  six  feet,  which  will  be  found  amply  sufficient  for 
root-pruned  trees.  Some  few  esteemed  sorts  of  pears 
do  not  grow  well  on  quince  stocks,  unless  "  double- 
grafted  " — i.  £.,  some  free-growing  sort  is  budded  on 
the  quince,  and  after  having  been  suffered  to  grow  for 
one  or  two  seasons,  the  sort  not  so  free-growing  is 
budded  or  grafted  on  it.  For  ten  varieties,  placed  in 
the  order  of  their  ripening,  the  undermentioned  may 
with  safety  be  recommended.1  (In  the  following  lists^ 
varieties  marked  thus  *  may  be  chosen  by  those  who 
require  only  a  few  trees.)2 

1.  Summer  Doyenne* July 

2.  Beurr6  Giffard August 

3.  Bon  Chretien  (Williams1)* September 

1  All  the  varieties  recommended  for  pyramids  may  also  be  planted  as  espaliers 
to  train. to  rails  in  the  usual  mode. 

2  A  very  good  light  permanent  label  for  pyramidal  and  other  fruit  trees,  is  a 
a  small  piece  of  zinc,  painted  with  white-lead  paint,  and  written  on  while  moist 
with  a  strong  black-lead  pencil.    It  should  be  suspended  from  a  side  branch  of  the 
tree  (not  the  stem)  by  a  piece  of  stout  copper  wire. 

2 


16  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN. 

4.  Beurr6  Superfin* October 

5.  Fondante   cTAutomne October 

6.  Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey* m  &  e.  October 

7.  Alexandre  Lambr6 Nov.  and  Dec. 

8.  Beurre1  d'Aremberg* December 

9.  Josephine  de  Malines* March 

10.  Bergamotte  d^speren*  (1) April  and  May 

For  twenty  add — 

11.  Tyson August 

12.  Colmar  d'Ete September 

13.  Baron  de  Mel h>* '.  x  October 

14.  Beurr6  Hardy* October 

15.  Doyenn6  Gris e.  October 

16.  Conseiller  de  la  Cour &.  November 

17.  Winter  Nelis* , December 

18.  Beurr6  d'Anjou 6.  December 

19.  Beurr<§  Sterckmans January 

20.  Bezi  Mai March  to  May 

The  above  succeed  on  the  quince?  and  form  excel- 
lent pyramids. 


ORNAMENTAL  PYRAMIDAL  PEAK  TREES  ON  QUINCE  STOCKS, 

There  are  some  few  varieties  of  pears,  the  trees 
of  which  may  be  made  highly  ornamental  even  on  a 
well-dressed  lawn,  as  they  grow  freely  and  form  natu- 
rally beautiful  cypress-like  trees,  at  the  same  time 
their  fruit  is  of  first-rate  quality.  Such  are  Summer 
Beurre  d'Aremberg,  Baronne  de  Mello,  Duchesse 
d'Angouleme,  Urbaniste,  Alexandre  Lambre,  Beurre 
Hardy,  White  Doyenne,  Gray  Doyenne,  Louise  Bonne 
of  Jersey,  Passe  Colmar,  Zephirin  Gregoire,  Beurre 
Leon  le  Clerc,  Delices  d'Hardenpont,  Prince  Albert, 
Delices  de  Jodoigne,  Doyenne  de  Cornice,  Bergamotte 
d'Esperen,  and  some  others. 

1  This  is  a  most  abundant  bearer.    A  pyramid  in  the  garden  of  Thomas  White, 
Esq.,  which  was  root-pruned  in  the  autumn  of  1858,  bore  two  bushels  in  1859. 


PEAE  TREES  AS  BUSHES.  17 

PEAR   TREES   AS   BUSHES    ON   THE    QUINCE   STOCK. 

It  is  only  very  recently  that  this  mode  of  cultivat- 
ing pear  trees  has  struck  me  as  being  eligible,  from 
having  observed  the  fruit  of  some  of  the  large  heavy 
varieties,  such  as  Beurre  Diel  and  Beurre  d'Amanlis, 
so  liable  to  be  blown  off  pyramids  by  even  moderate 
autumnal  gales.  The  trees  also  of  these  and  several 
other  fine  sorts  of  pears  are  difficult  to  train  in  the 


FIG.  5. 


pyramidal  form  ;  they  are  diffuse  in  their  growth,  and, 
with  summer  pinching,  soon  form  nice  prolific  bushes, 
of  which  the  preceding  figure  (Fig.  5),  from  nature, 
will  give  some  idea.  This  summer  pinching  is  quite 
necessary  in  bush  culture,  and  is  performed  by  pinch- 
ing off  the  end  of  every  shoot  as  soon  as  it  has  made 
four  or  five  leaves,  to  three  full-sized  ones  ;  when  the 
branches  become  crowded  they  should  be  thinned  by 


18  THE  MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN. 

cutting  out  cleanly  with  a  sharp  knife,  in  winter 
pruning  those  that  are  crowding  each  other.  The 
biennial  removal  described  below  is  also  necessary, 
unless  in  very  large  gardens  where  large  spreading 
trees  are  wished  for.  Although  the  taking  up  and 
replanting  a  tree  may  seem  formidable  work,  it  is  not 
so,  for  the  roots,  from  being  frequently  removed, 
become  so  fibrous  near  the  surface,  that  an  active  man 
can  lift  and  replant  one  hundred  trees  in  a  day.  I 
need  scarcely  add  that  if  root-pruning,  as  described 
in  page  14,  be  preferred  to  removal,  it  may  be  prac- 
ticed. 

These  bushes  are  admirably  adapted  for  gardens 
exposed  to  winds,  and  if  removed  biennially  they  may 
be  grown  in  the  smallest  of  gardens  with  great  ad- 
vantage. This  biennial  removal,  or  lifting,  should  be 
performed  as  follows : — A  trench  should  be  opened 
round  the  tree  the  width  of  a  spade,  and  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  inches  deep  ;  the  tree  should  then  be  raised 
with  its  ball  of  earth  attached  to  its  root  intact.  If 
the  soil  be  light  and  rich,  and  the  tree  inclined  to  grow 
vigorously,  making  annual  shoots  of  more  than  one 
foot  in  length,  it  may  be  replanted  without  any  fresh 
compost ;  but  if,  on  the  contrary,  the  soil  be  poor, 
and  the  tree  stunted  in  its  growth,  the  following 
materials  may  be  used : — In  low  situations  near 
brooks  and  rivers,  a  black  moor  earth  is  generally 
found  :  this  unprepared  is  unfit  for  horticultural  pur- 
poses, but  if  dug  out  and  laid  in  a  ridge,  and  one- 
eighth  part  of  unslacked  lime  be  spread  over  it,  turn- 
ing it  immediately  and  mixing  the  lime  with  it,  it  will 
become  in  the  course  of  five  or  six  weeks  an  excellent 


PEARS  ADAPTED  EOR  BUSH  CULTURE.     19 

compost  for  pear  trees.  It  is  good  practice  to  add 
half  a  bushel  of  burnt  earth,  or  the  same  quantity  of 
sand,  to  a  barrowful  of  this  moor  earth.  Leaf  mold 
(or  rotten  manure),  loam,  and  sand,  equal  parts,  form 
also  an  excellent  compost :  in  planting,  one  wheelbar- 
rowful  to  a  tree  will  be  enough.  In  London  suburban 
gardens,  for  which  these  trees  are  peculiarly  adapted, 
no  compost  need  be  given  to  the  trees  in  replanting, 
for  the  soil  in  them  is  generally  rich.  These  bush 
trees  oifer  two  very  great  advantages — they  are  easily 
protected  from  spring  frosts  when  in  blossom  by 
covering  them  with  tiffany,  and  they  may  be  planted 
from  three  to  live  feet  apart,  so  as  to  be  eligible  for 
very  small  gardens  with  great  facility. 

In  large  gardens  in  situations  exposed  to  the  wind, 
large  bushes  may  be  desirable.  In  such  cases  the 
leading  shoots  on  each  branch  may  be  pinched,  as 
recommended  for  pyramids  (page  8);  but  instead  of 
pinching  them  to  three  leaves,  they  may  be  suffered 
to  make  ten  leaves  and  then  be  pinched,  leaving 
seven.  The  trees  will,  if  treated  in  this  manner,  soon 
become  large,  compact,  and  fruitful. 

The  following  varieties  are  well  adapted  for  bush 
culture,  as  they  are  spreading  in  their  growth  and 
difficult  to  form  into  compact  pyramids,  although 
they  may  be  made  into  spreading  and  prolific  conical 
trees.  It  ought,  however,  to  be  mentioned  that  those 
sorts,  such  as  Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey,  which  form 
handsome  pyramids,  make  very  pretty  compact 
bushes  by  cutting  out  the  central  branch  to  within 
three  feet  of  the  ground ;  so  that  pyramids  may  be 
easily  formed  into  bushes.  I  may  add  that  these  bush 


20  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

pears  produce  the  very  finest  fruit,  from  their  being  so 
near  the  heat  and  moisture-giving  surface  of  the  earth. 
In  situations  near  the  sea-coast,  exposed  to  sea 
breezes,  small  fruit-gardens  may  be  formed  by  inclos- 
ing a  square  piece  of  ground  with  a  beech  hedge  or 
wooden  fence,  and  .planting  it  with  bush  trees.  A 
piece  of  ground  500  square  feet  will  be  large  enough 
to  cultivate  30  trees  at  4  feet  apart  in  it,  or  25  trees 
at  5  feet  apart.  Many  a  sea-side  cottage  may  thus 
have  its  fruit-garden. 

LIST   OF   PEAKS   ADAPTED   FOE   BUSH   CULTURE. 

Alexandra  Bivort January 

Josephine  de  Malines March 

Marie  Louise October 

Winter  Nelis December 

Beurr6  d'Amanlis September 

Beurr6  de  Kance    March 

Beurr6  Diel December 

Beurr6  Giflfard August 

Beurr6  Goubault September 

Doyenn6  Boussoch , October 

Jargonelle August 

Conseiller  de  la  Cour November 

Victoria  (Huyshe) November 

Prince  of  Wales  (Huyshe) December 

Dr.  Trousseau , December 

Z6phirin  Gregoire January 

Jalousie  de  Fontenay August 

Catillac  (for  baking) December 

L6on  le  Clerc  de  Laval  (for  baking) March 

PROTECTORS   FOR   PYRAMIDAL   AND   BUSH   PEAR   TREES. 

The  weather  in  spring  is  often  cold  and  ungenial 
for  the  blossoms  of  pear  and  other  fruit  trees ;  in  such 
seasons  pyramids  should  be  protected.  This  is  best 
done  by  fixing  four  stout  stakes  round  a  tree ;  these 
should  be  a  little  taller  than  the  tree,  and  then  be 
sawn  off  level.  A  square  piece  of  calico,  or  any  cheap 
canvas,  should  then  be  nailed  on  the  top  of  the  stakes 


PROTECTORS  FOR  PEAR  TREES. 


21 


to  form  the  roof,  the  like  material  brought  round  the 
sides  and  fastened  to  the  stakes  by  small  nails  or 
tacks,  from  within  eighteen  inches  of  the  ground  to 
within  eight  inches  of  the  top,  thus  leaving  a  space 
between  the  top  and  side  covering  for  free  ventila- 
tion, as  the  air  when  heated  by  the  sun  will  rush  out 
of  the  aperture  at  top  in  a  continual  stream.  These 
flat-roofed  square  tents  will  generally  insure  a  crop  of 
fruit. 

Pea-sticks — i.  e.,  stakes  with  the  small  brushwood 
on  them — stuck  round  each  tree,  and  spruce  or  other 
fir  branches  where  these  can  be  procured,  are  also  good 
protectors.  For  bush  trees  hay  is  a  capital  protector, 
particularly  from  those  still  hoar  frosts  which  are  gen- 
erally so  destructive ;  it  should  be  strewed  lightly  over 
them  when  they  are  just  commencing  to  blossom.  If 
some  brushwood  sticks  are  placed  round  the  bush  so 
as  to  lean  over  it,  the  hay  will  adhere  to  the  spray, 


THE    TIFFANY-HOUSE    PROTECTOR. 


Section  of  Tiffany-house. 


and  remain  undisturbed  by  the  wind.  Tiffany  may 
be  used  to  throw  over  pear  bushes ;  it  is  so  light  that 
it  does  no  injury  to  the  tender  blossoms ;  it  should  be 
taken  0ff  on  sunny  days.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  better 


22  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

protector  than  old  or  new  netting ;  if  woolen,  all  the 
better.  This  should  be  thrown  over  the  trees  two  or 
three  times  thick,  and  suffered  to  remain  on  till  the 
fruit  is  safe  from  frosts — i.  e.,  till  the  end  of  May. 

Houses  built  with  stakes  or  slight  timber,  and  the 
roofs  and  sides  covered  with  tiffany,  have  very  re- 
cently been  introduced  and  found  efficient  in  protect- 
ing half-hardy  plants  from  severe  frost. 

I  now  propose  to  erect  temporary  houses  of  the 
same  materials  to  protect  dwarf  and  pyramidal  fruit 
trees  while  they  are  in  bloom,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
but  that  they  will  lead  to  a  new  era  in  fruit  garden- 
ing among  amateurs,  offering  as  they  do  a  very  cheap 
method  of  protection.  A  border  or  bed  of  fruit  trees 
may  be  eight  feet  wide  and  planted  with  three  rows 
of  bush  fruit  trees  as  shown  in  the  above  section,  one 
row  in  the  centre,  and  the  other  rows  three  feet  from 
it,  and  the  trees  three  feet  apart  in  the  rows,  thus  oc- 
cupying six  feet  of  the  bed. 

A  tiffany-house  to  cover  the  trees  in  a  bed  of  the 
above  width  may  be  eight  feet  wide,  three  feet  high 
at  the  sides,  and  five  high  in  the  centre. 

The  roof  of  tiffany  should  be  fastened  to  the  rafters 
with  shreds  three  or  four  times  double,  so  as  to  make 
a  thick  pad,  and  either  nailed  on  with  short  nails  or 
fastened  with  screws,  so  that  it  may  be  easily  taken  to 
pieces  annually  the  first  week  in  June,  for  till  then 
we  are  not  safe  from  spring  frosts.  The  tiffany-house 
should  be  placed  over  the  trees  the  first  week  in 
March,  unless  the  season  be  unusually  early,  when  the 
middle  of  February  would  be  better.  The  sides  should 
be  loose,  and  be  turned  up  night  and  day  in  mild 


PEAR  TRIES  FOR  WALLS.  23 

weather  while  the  trees  are  in  bloom ;  but  in  cold, 
sharp,  windy  weather  in  the  blossoming  season  they 
should  be  kept  down,  and  fastened  to  the  upright 
stakes  by  tying  or  otherwise. 

A  tiffany -house  twenty-four  feet  long  and  eight  feet 
wide  will  thus  shelter  twenty-four  trees,  either  bushes 
or  pyramids  ;  if  for  the  latter,  the  sides  of  the  house 
should  be  four  feet,  and  its  centre  seven  to  eight  feet 
in  height.  If  it  be  thought  desirable  to  keep  the 
trees  in  a  comparatively  small  space,  they  may  be  re- 
moved biennially  in  October.  If  larger  trees  are 
desired,  the  house  may  be  enlarged  as  the  trees  grow. 
A  tiffany-house  may  be  from  one  to  500  feet  in  length, 
and  twenty  in  width  if  desirable,  for  there  are  no  par- 
ticular limits  to  its  extent,  only  the  effects  of  a  "  March 
wind"  must  be  thought  about  when  lofty  and  exten- 
sive houses  are  put  up.  As  measures  of  economy,  the 
timber  and  tiffany  should  be  placed  in  a  dry  place 
when  removed,  and  the  rafters  fastened  to  the  plate 
and  ridge  board  with  screws.  A  tiffany-house  thus 
treated — "kindly  and  gently" — will  last  for  several 
years ;  and  in  places  where  the  climate  is  sufficiently 
warm  to  ripen  apricots,  plums,  pears,  cherries,  and 
even  early  peaches,  in  the  open  air,  they  will,  I  have 
no  doubt,  be  extensively  employed. 

PEAK  TKEES  ON  THE  QUINCE  STOCK  TRAINED  AS  UPRIGHT 
CORDONS. 

The  French  gardeners  employ  the  term  cordon  for 
the  branch  of  a  fruit  tree  on  which  the  shoots  have 
been  pinched  in  so  as  to  form  a  succession  of  blossom- 
buds.  The  term,  as  used  by  them,  is  expressive,  and 


24:  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

lately  an  interesting  work  Las  been  published  by  the 
Rev.  T.  C.  Brehaut,  of  Guernsey,  on  this  mode  of 
training,  nnder  the  title  of  "  Cordon  Training  of  Fruit 
Trees."  It  is  simply  the  pinching  off  the  ends  of  the 
shoots  on  a  branch,  so  as  to  make  them  form  blossom- 
buds,  and  fruit  trees  under  this  mode  are  planted  in 
an  oblique  position  on  walls.  With  pear  trees  on  the 
quince  stock  there  is  no  occasion  for  this,  and  the  up- 
right or  vertical  cordon  will  be  found  the  most  con- 
venient mode  of  training,  for  which  see  Fig.  6.  To 
carry  out  this  mode  of  training,  in  April,  1849,  I 
planted  one  of  each  of  some  new  and  esteemed  pears 
on  quince  stocks  against  a  boarded  fence,  so  that  they 
would  quickly  come  into  bearing.  The  usual  method 
of  horizontal  training  I  found  would  take  up  too  much 
space,  and  I  could  not  find  room  for  half  the  number 
of  trees  I  wished  to  plant.  In  this  strait,  an  old  idea 
came  to  my  assistance — that  of  cutting  pyramidal 
trees  flat,  and  planting  them  against  walls ;  and  then 
a  modification  of  the  idea  came  to  hand — viz.,  to  plant 
horizontal  espaliers,  and  to  make  them  perpendicular. 
In  the  next  page  is  a  figure  of  one  of  my  vertical  cor- 
don pear  trees.  (Fig.  6.) 

The  shoots,  a,  a,  should  be  eight  inches  from  the 
central  shoot,  and  those  marked  &,  5,  the  same  distance 
from  those  marked  a,  a.  This  tree  with  five  branch- 
es will  thus  occupy  thirty-two  inches — say  three  feet 
of  wall  room ;  a  tree  with  seven  branches  will  require 
four  feet,  but  as  some  space  ought  to  be  allowed  for  the 
spurs  on  the  outside  branches,  say  five  feet.  If  the 
wall  be  of  a  moderate  height — eight  feet  for  instance 
— a  tree  with  seven  branches  will  produce  quite 


PEAR  TREES  FOR  WALLS. 


25 


fruit  enough  of  one  sort.  This  method  offers  a  strong 
contrast  to  espaliers  on  pear  stocks,  planted  in  the 
usual  manner,  twenty- four  feet  apart,  and  trained  hori- 
zontally ;  nearly  five  trees  for  one  will  give  so  many 


A  VERTICAL  CORDON  PEAR  TREE. 


additional  chances  to  the  pear  cultivator ;  the  single 
tree  may  fail,  or  its  fruit  may  become  imperfect,  ow- 
ing to  an  adverse  season  ;  but  out  of  his  five  trees,  he 
will  in  every  season  stand  a  good  chance  of  having  some 
good  pears.  A  few  words  will  suffice  for  their  man- 
agement: summer  pinching  of  the  shoots  to  three 
leaves  all  through  the  summer  as  recommended  for 
pyramids  (page  8),  and  root  pruning,  or  biennial  re- 


26  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN. 

moval,  these  operations — like  Dr.  Sangrado's  bleeding 
and  warm  water — will  do  all. 

Vertical  cordon  trees,  not  only  of  pears  but  of  cher- 
ries on  the  Mahaleb  stock  ;  of  plums,  and  of  Ameri- 
can apples  on  the  Paradise  stock  (peach  trees  are  too 
vigorous  in  their  habit),  may  be  planted  against  walls 
in  gardens,  if  of  a  moderate  size,  to  great  advantage. 
As  so  much  variety  may  be  had  in  a  small  space,  let 
the  reader  imagine  himself  to  have  a  brick  wall  with 
a  southern  aspect,  20  feet  long  and  8  or  10  feet  high. 
According  to  old  notions,  this  would  afford  space  for 
one  tree,  but  with  vertical  cordon  training,  I  repeat, 
Jive  trees  maybe  cultivated,  and  thus  give  five  chances 
to  one. 

If  upright  trained  trees  on  the  quince  stock  can  not 
be  procured,  those  that  are  trained  horizontally,  with 
five  or  seven  branches,  may  be  planted  against  the 
wall  or  fence  destined  for  them  ;  and  their  young 
shoots,  #,  #,  and  5,  5,  in  Fig.  6,  be  made  to  curve 
gently  till  they  are  perpendicular — the  young  shoots 
of  pear  trees  are  very  pliable,  and  will  easily  bend  to 
the  required  shape.  The  lower  part  of  each  shoot  in 
such  cases  must  be  fastened  to  the  wall  with  shreds 
and  nails,  in  the  usual  way,  and  the  remaining  part 
brought  round  to  an  upright  position.  If  they  are 
more  than  two  feet  in  length,  each  of  these  shoots  must 
then  be  shortened  to  it.  These  shortened  branches 
will,  in  May,  each  put  forth  two  or  three  shoots.  As 
soon  as  they  have  made  four  leaves,  pinch  all  but  one 
on  each  branch  to  three  leaves,  leaving  the  topmost 
one  to  each  shoot,  a,  a,  and  5,  5,  as  above,  also  to  the 
leader.  You  will  thus,  if  your  tree  be  five  branched, 


PEAR  TREES  FOR  WALLS.  27 

have  five  young  leading  shoots.  As  soon  in  June  as 
they  have  attained  to  eight  inches  in  length,  pinch  off 
the  end  of  each ;  and  when  they  break  into  two  or 
three  shoots  as  before,  pinch  so  as  to  leave  the  spurs 
with  three  leaves,  and  the  leading  shoot  unpinched  to 
each  branch.  This  may  be  repeated,  if  the  soil  be  rich, 
two,  three,  or  four  times  in  the  summer.  Your  tree 
will  soon  reach  the  top  of  the  wall,  and  every  bud  in 
the  five  branches  will  be  perfect — either  a  blossom- 
bud,  or  one  in  embryo.  When  every  branch  has 
reached  the  top  of  the  wall,  commence  root-pruning 
(or  biennially  lifting  them)  in  autumn,  the  directions 
for  which  are  *  given  in  treating  of  pyramidal  trees. 
These  may  be  followed  exactly ;  and  if  so,  the  trees 
will  be  kept  in  a  stationary  bearing  state.  It  must  be 
recollected  that  the  spurs  on  the  branches  will  often 
put  forth  shoots  even  while  bearing  fruit ;  these  must 
be  pinched  in  to  three  leaves. 

I  may  as  well  hint  to  the  reader  that,  if  larger  trees 
are  wished  for,  so  as  to  give  more  fruit  of  each  sort, 
trees  with  nine  upright  branches  may  be  planted  seven 
feet  apart,  or  trees  with  eleven  upright  branches,  nine 
feet  apart.  Trees,  however,  can  seldom  be  purchased 
with  shoots  so  numerous  ;  young  trees  must,  therefore 
be  planted,  and  cut  back  annually  for  two  or  three 
years,  till  the  proper  number  of  perpendicular  shoots 
are  supplied.  It  may  happen  that  trained  trees  with 
five  or  seven  branches  can  not  be  procured,  perhaps 
trees  with  only  three  shoots,  two  horizontal  and  one 
leading  shoot  ;  in  such  cases  they  must  be  cut  back, 
leaving  five  buds  to  each  shoot,  and  the  young  shoots 
in  June  trained  as  required. 


28 


THE  MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 


Pyramidal  trees  cut  flat  on  the  side  to  be  placed 
next  the  wall,  and  planted  against  walls  or  fences, 
will  give  almost  a  certain  crop.  Their  shoots  must 
be  pinched,  and  trained  so  as  to  form  a  handsome 
semi-pyramidal  tree,  which,  when  it  has  reached  the  top 


FIG.  7. 


of  the  wall,  must  be  subjected  to  biennial  removal,  so  as 
to  keep  it  in  a  stationary  fruitful  state.  Annexed  I 
give  a  figure  (Fig.  7)  of  a  young  pyramid  planted 
against  a  south-east  fence. 

It  will,  I  trust,  be  seen  how  economical  of  space  are 


PEAR  TREES  TOR  WALLS.  29 

these  methods  of  training  pears  to  walls ;  and  I  know 
of  nothing  in  fruit  culture  more  interesting  than  a 
wall  of  upright  espaliers,  or  of  pyramids  full  of  fruit. 
Let  us  only  consider  that  a  wall  100  feet  long  will  ac- 
commodate four  trees  on  the  pear  stock,  trained  in  the 
usual  horizontal  mode ;  the  same  wall  will  give  "  am- 
ple room  and  verge  enough "  to  twenty  trees  on  the 
quince  stock,  trained  perpendicularly ;  if  their  young 
shoots  (all  but  the  leaders)  are  pinched  in  to  three 
leaves  all  the  summer,  no  root-pruning  will  be  needed. 
They  are  also  invaluable  for  planting  against  walls 
between  old  trees  where  there  are  bare  spaces,  as  is 
so  often  the  case ;  for  they  soon  fill  up  such  vacancies, 
and  bear  abundance  of  fine  fruit.  A  selection  of  va- 
rieties for  wall  trees  will  not  here  be  out  of  place. 

UPRIGHT   TKAESTED  TREES    ON    QUINCE   STOCKS. 

FOB  SOUTH  OB  SOUTH- WEST  WALLS. 

Crassane*  Glou  Morceau* 

Summer  Doyenne*  Beurre  Hardy 

Chaumontel  Van  Mons  (Leon  le  Clerc) 

Passe  Colmar  Gansel's  Bergamot2 

FOR  WEST  OK  NORTH- WEST  WALLS. 

Beurr6  Diel*  Beurr6  Superfin* 

Beurre  d'Amanlis  Marie  Louise* 

Beurre  de  Ranee  Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey 

Beurr£  Sterckmans*  Josephine  de  Malines* 


FOR  EAST  OR  SOUTH-EAST  WALLS. 


Beurre  Easter*  DoyennS  d'Alencon 

Beurre  d^remberg*  Beurre  de  Caen 

Bergamotte  d'Esperen  Consellier  de  la  Cour 

Winter  Nelis*  Beurre  d'Anjou* 

The  above  varieties  grafted   on  pear  stocks   are 

1  This  will  ripen  on  walls  toward  the  end  of  June,  quickly  followed  by  Citron 
des  Cannes. 

1  It  is  not  generally  known  that  this  fine  variety,  proverbially  a  shy  bearer,  be- 
comes, when  double  grafted  on  the  quince  stock,  one  of  the  most  abundant  bearers. 


30  THE  MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN. 

equally  adapted  for  their  several  aspects.  In  shallow, 
gravelly,  or  chalky  soils,  pears  on  pear  stocks  are  to 
be  preferred  for  walls. 

It  is  almost  useless  to  plant  dessert  pears  against 
north  or  north-east  walls,  as  the  fruit,  unless  in  very 
warm  seasons,  is  generally  deficient  in  flavor.  The 
only  varieties  that  offer  the  least  chance  of  success, 
and  that  only  in  a  warm  climate  with  a  dry  soil,  are 
Marie  Louise,  Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey,  and  Beurre 
Superfin.  It  is  far  better  to  plant  against  such  as- 
pects baking  or  stewing  pears,  such  as  Catillac,  Bel- 
lissime  d'Hiver,  and  Leon  le  Clerc  de  Laval ;  the 
Vicar  of  Winkfield  is  also  a  good  north  wall  pear — it 
bears  well  and  stews  well.  In  the  north  the  finer 
sorts  of  pears  must  be  cultivated  on  south  walls. 

In  recommending  pears  on  quince  stocks  as  py- 
ramidal trees  for  cold  soils  and  situations,  even  in  the 
far  north,  I  may  appear  theoretical ;  but  from  my 
own  experience,  in  some  very  cold  and  clayey  soils  in 
this  neighborhood,  I  feel  sanguine  as  to  the  result, 
for  I  have  observed  in  my  frequent  visits  to  the  pear 
gardens  of  France  that  many  sorts  are  often  too 
ripe.  Now,  this  is  just  the  tendency  we  require.  In 
our  cold  and  moist  climate,  most  certainly,  pears  will 
not  get  too  ripe,  more  especially  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  Some  years  since  I  received  a 
letter  from  a  correspondent  living  in  a  hilly  part  of 
Derbyshire,  from  which  I  give  an  extract : — "  I  have 
tried  Beurre  Diel,  Beurre  de  Capiaumont,  Marie 
Louise,  and  Williams's  Bon  Chretien,  on  pear  stocks, 
all  of  which  bear  well  as  standards,  but  their  fruit 
does  not  come  to  perfection — always  remaining  quite 


CORDON  PEARS   ON  TRELLISES. 


31 


hard  till  they  decay  at  the  core.  I  have  placed  the 
fruit  in  a  hot-house,  but  have  never  succeeded  in 
ripening  them.  Williams's  Bon  Chretien  we  can  only 
use  for  stewing."  This  seems  to  show  that  cold  hilly 
situations  are  not  favorable  to  the  cultivation  of 
pears  as  standards.  I  have  recommended  some  pears 
on  quince  stocks,  and  have  heard  of  a  favorable  re- 
sult. 

CORDON  PEARS  ON  TRELLISES  UNDER  GLASS. 

Some  few  years  since  a  very  ingenious  method  of 
growing  peaches  and  nectarines  on  trellises,  over 
which  were  placed  movable  glass  lights,  was  in- 
vented by  Mr.  Bellenden  Ker.  In  warm  and  shel- 
tered gardens  this  mode  of  culture  answers  very  well 
for  peaches,  but  in  cool  climates  there  is  not  day-heat 
enough  stored  up,  as  in  houses,  to  act  upon  the  fruit. 
Cheap  orchard-houses  are,  therefore,  to  be  preferred 
to  these  cheap  trellises  for  the  above  kinds  of  fruits, 
unless  the  garden  be  small  and  much  sheltered. 

Soon  after  I  had  built  my  trellis  for  peaches,  it  oc- 
curred to  me  that  the  system  applied  to  pear  culture 
would  do  well,  and  so  I  built  a  trellis  60  feet  long  and 
7  feet  wide ;  on  this  I  planted  upright  espalier  pears 
on  quince  stocks.  Fig.  8  is  a  section  of  this  trellis. 


FIG.  8. 


and  Fig.  9  is  a  front  view  of  a  pear  tree  trained  to  it 


32 


THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 


in  the  upright  method.  My  trellis  was  planted  eight 
years  ago,  and  has  now  on  it  twenty  fine  trees,  about 
ten  years  old,  and  in  full  bearing.  They  were  planted 
three  feet  apart,  as  it  was  my  first  experiment,  and 


FIG.  9. 

are  now  a  little  crowded ;  four  feet  apart  will  be 
found  the  proper  distance.  I  have  never  seen  any 
thing  more  interesting  in  fruit  culture  than  this  trellis 
covered  with  pears,  for,  owing  to  its  being  near  the 
ground,  the  radiation  of  heat  and  moisture  gives  the 
fruit  a  size  and  beauty  rarely  seen  even  on  walls. 

The  lights  should  remain  over  the  trees  till  the 
beginning  of  July,  and  then  be  removed,  suffering  the 
fruit  to  ripen  fully  exposed  to  the  sun  and  air.  It 
seems  that  the  glass  over  the  fruit  in  its  young  state 
serves  to  develop  its  growth  in  a  remarkable  manner, 
for  rarely  is  a  spot  seen  on  pears  grown  on  these  trel- 
lises ;  they  have  a  clear,  beautiful  appearance,  much 
like  those  grown  in  the  warmer  parts  of  France.  I 
ought  to  add,  that  in  cool  climates,  such  as  the  north 
of  England  and  Scotland,  the  lights  may  be  suffered 
to  remain  over  the  trees  till  the  beginning  or  middle 
of  August.  This  will  hasten  the  ripening  of  the  fruit, 
but  it  should  be  exposed  to  the  air  in  early  autumn 
for  some  weeks  before  it  is  gathered  (unless  the  cli- 
mate be  particularly  cold  and  stormy),  or  it  may  suffer 
in  flavor.  Pears  ripened  under  glass  are  apt  to  suffer 


CORDON  PEARS  ON  TRELLISES  UNDER  GLASS.       33 

in  this  respect.  I  have,  however,  very  recently  re- 
ceived the  following  communication  from  a  very 
clever  fruit-cultivator  living  in  Ireland  : — 

"  Let  no  one  persuade  you  that  pears  grown  in  a 
well-ventilated  orchard-house  are  not  equal  to  those 
outside ;  I  can  give  strong  evidence  to  the  contrary. 
In  my  house  there  was  a  small  Louise  Bonne  on  the 
quince  stock,  in  an  11-inch  pot ;  it  bore  23  splendid 
pears,  as  far  superior  to  the  same  fruit  grown  in  the 
open  air,  as  it  was  possible  to  be.  They  were  not,  I 
admit,  high-colored,  but  they  attained  a  richness  and 
flavor  that  I  thought  Louise  Bonne  did  not  possess." 

The  pear  trellis,  of  which  the  section  and  front  view 
(Figs.  8  and  9)  will  give  a  correct  idea,  is  of  the  most 
simple  description.  A  row  of  larch  or  oak  posts  must 
be  driven  into  the  ground  6  feet  apart,  and  another 
row  in  front ;  on  these  should  be  nailed  plates,  3 
inches  by  2,  and  then  bars,  3  inches  by  1,  placed  flat- 
wise, from  front  plates  to  back,  3  feet  apart ;  across 
these,  common  tiling  laths  should  be  nailed,  six  inches 
asunder.  This  will  form  the  trellis,  as  seen  in  Fig. 
9.  The  supports  for  the  lights  are  formed  in  the  same 
manner,  by  a  row  of  posts  at  the  back,  and  the  same 
for  the  front,  on  which  are  nailed  plates  of  the  same 
dimensions  as  those  for  the  trellis ;  a  cross-piece  should 
be  nailed  to  front  and  back  plate  at  each  end,  to  keep 
the  supports  for  the  lights  from  giving  way.  The 
structure  with  the  lights,  when  resting  on  the  back 
and  front  plates,  has  exactly  the  appearance  of  a  large 
garden  frame  without  back,  front,  or  ends.  Under 
the  lights  the  trellis  is  formed  with  a  sharp  slope  up- 
ward to  the  back ;  for  unless  the  front  of  the  trellis 


34:  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

is  within  six  inches  of  the  ground,  it  will  be  difficult 
to  bend  the  trees  to  the  required  position.  By  this 
simple  contrivance,  pears  (and  even  peaches  and  nec- 
tarines, in  warm  gardens)  may  be  grown  in  any  cor- 
ner of  the  garden,  with  a  south  or  southwestern  expo- 
sure— for  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  the 
lights  should  slope  to  the  south  or  south-west^  so  as  to 
have  all  the  sun-heat  possible. 

The  most  eligible  dimensions  for  a  trellis,  I  find 
from  experience  to  be  as  follows  : — 

Glass  LiyJits. 

Eight  feet  long,  three  feet  wide. 
Height  from  ground  at  back,  three  feet  six  inches. 
Height  from  ground  at  front,  one  foot  six  inches. 

Trellis. 

Height  from  ground  at  back,  two  feet  six  inches. 
Height  from  ground  at  front,  six  inches. 
Distance  from  glass  lights,  one  foot. 

The  front  border  should  be  raised  to  a  level  with  the 
front  of  trellis  ;  this  will  leave  twelve  inches  between 
the  front  ends  of  the  lights  and  the  surface  of  the 
front  border,  which  will  be  quite  enough  for  ventila- 
tion ;  indeed,  the  draught  in  windy  weather  is  inclined 
to  be  too  sharp.  I  find,  therefore,  furze,  or  other  ever- 
green branches,  placed  along  the  front,  between  the 
glass  and  the  border,  and  a  mat  nailed  at  the  back, 
excellent  checks  to  excessive  ventilation  in  cold  frosty 
weather.  They  may  remain  there  till  the  beginning 
or  end  of  June  ;  the  latter,  if  the  weather  be  cold  and 
stormy.  The  lights  are  fastened  to  the  plate,  back 
and  front,  by  a  hook-and-eye ;  they  are  thus  easily 
removed  to  prune  the  trees  and  gather  the  fruit. 
I  was  induced,  as  I  thought,  to  improve  upon  Mr. 


OOUDON  PEAR  TREES   ON   DWARF  WALLS.         35 

Ker's  plan,  by  having  my  first  trellis  within  eight 
inches  of  the  glass — for  I  calculated,  the  nearer  the 
glass  the  better  the  chance  of  success  in  early  ripen- 
ing ;  but  I  suffered  for  my  innovation.  My  peach 
trees  were  planted  in  March,  1848  ;  they  made  during 
the  summer,  with  the  lights  constantly  on,  beautifully 
matured  shoots,  and  in  March  and  April,  1850,  were 
gay  with  blossom.  The  winds  were  cold,  the  nights 
frosty ;  but,  owing  to  the  extreme  ventilation,  which 
kept  every  bud  and  shoot  dry  under  the  glass,  not  a 
blossom  was  injured  by  the  sharp  winds,  and  the  trees 
were  covered  with  fruit.  On  the  fatal  3d  of  May, 
however,  in  1850,  a  still  hoar  frost — the  thermometer 
down  to  23° — destroyed  all  my  hopes,  for,  owing  to 
the  trees  being  too  near  the  glass,  every  fruit  was 
blackened  and  destroyed :  a  single  mat  would  have 
saved  them  ;  but  I  was  not  at  home,  and  my  pet  trees 
were  forgotten.  Do  not,  therefore,  have  the  trellis 
nearer  the  glass  than  twelve  inches. 

It  will  be  seen  that  I  employ  smaller  lights,  which 
are  easily  removable  for  purposes  of  culture,  and  a 
smaller  trellis  than  that  described  by  Mr.  Ker  in  the 
seventh  edition  of  this  work.  I  find  from  experience 
this  smaller  edition  of  the  Kerian  trellis  much  to  be 
recommended  for  small  gardens. 

HORIZONTAL    CORDON    PEAR   TREES    ON   DWARF   WALLS. 

Having  had  occasion  within  these  two  years  to 
erect  a  large  number  of  four-inch  brick  walls  on  which 
to  train  young  peach  trees,  I  have  been  much  struck 
with  their  eligibility  for  pear  trees  on  quince  stocks. 
A  very  large  number  of  trees  may  be  cultivated  in 
this  manner  on  a  small  piece  of  ground. 


36  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN. 

My  walls  have  a  nine-inch  foundation  of  three 
courses  of  brickwork  in  the  ground,  and  they  are 
carried  up  to  four  feet  above  the  surface  (it  is  scarcely 
safe  to  build  them  of  a  greater  height),  with  nine-inch 
piers  fifteen  feet  apart.  The  coping  for  them  is  made 
of  boiling  coal-tar  mixed  with  lime  and  sand  to  the 
consistence  of  mortar,  which  is  placed  on  the  top  of 
the  walls  thus  -^  so  as  to  carry  off  the  water.  This  is 
a  most  cheap  and  efficacious  covering — it  can  scarcely 
be  called  a  coping,  as  it  does  not  project  over  the 
edge  of  the  wall.  A  coping  of  Portland  cement  is 
even  better,  as  it  holds  the  wall  together. 

The  best  description  of  bricks  for  these  light  walls 
are  the  patent  perforated  bricks,  but  common  stock 
bricks  will  do.  The  very  best  lime  should  be  used 
(I  have  found  the  gray  Dorking  lime  excellent),  but 
any  kind  of  lime  made  from  limestone  will  answer 
well;  that  made  from  chalk  in  this  county  is  not  strong 
enough.  Their  cost,  as  I  learn  from  my  bricklayer, 
is  about  six  shillings  the  yard  in  length  ;  thus  a  wall 
of  the  above  height,  twenty  yards  long,  should  cost 
six  pounds.  In  places  where  bricks  are  cheap,  they 
may  be  built  for  less ;  if  they  are  dear  and  at  a  dis- 
tance, their  carriage  will  add  to  the  expense.  My 
walls  are  six  feet  apart,  and  stand  endwise,  N.  E.  and 
S.  "W. ;  so  that  one  side  of  each  wall  has  a  S.  E.  aspect, 
the  other  a  N".  W. ;  on  the  former  may  be  grown  the 
late-keeping  pears,  on  the  latter  the  earlier  sorts,  that 
ripen  from  October  till  the  end  of  November.  We 
thus  have  one  excellent  aspect — the  S.  E. ;  and  one 
tolerably  good — the  IS".  W. :  so  that  no  wall  space  is 
lost. 


CORDON  PEAR  TREES   ON   DWARF  WALLS. 


37 


The  pear  trees  for  these  dwarf  walls  should  be 
grafted  on  quince  stocks,  and  trained  horizontally. 
They  may  be  planted  five  feet  apart  at  first,  and  when 
their  branches  meet  they  should  be  interlaced,  as  in 
Fig.  10,  and  if  necessary — i.  0.,  if  the  shoots  be  long 
enough — they  may  be  trained  over  the  stems,  so  that 
the  wall  is  completely  furnished  with  bearing  branch- 
es. „  At  the  end  of  five  or  six  years  every  alternate 
tree  may  be  removed,  leaving  the  permanent  trees  ten 
feet  apart.  I  advise  planting  thus  thickly,  because  I 


FIG.  10. 


know  from  experience,  that  the  temporary  trees  will 
fill  the  walls,  will  bear  a  good  quantity  of  fruit,  and 
look  more  satisfactory  than  if  they  are  planted  thinly. 
When  removed  they  may  be  planted  out  for  espaliers, 
or  fresh  walls  built  for  them.  I  have  some  trees  that 
have  been  planted  six  years ;  but  I  find  that,  owing 
to  the  soil  not  being  rich,  they  have  not  grown  rapidly, 
and  need  not  yet  be  removed,  as  their  branches  only 
just  cover  all  the  fence  to  which  they  are  trained. 

If,   owing  to  the  soil  being  rich,   the    trees   are 
inclined  to  grow  vigorously  and  not  bear,  they  should 


38  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN. 

be  lifted  biennially ;  but  pears  on  quince  stocks  will 
be  sure  to  bear  abundantly. 

These  dwarf  walls,  when  covered  with  well-trained 
trees,  have  a  neat  and  charming  effect ;  and  the  trees 
may  be  so  easily  protected  by  sticking  branches  of 
evergreens  in  the  ground  and  letting  them  rest  against 
the  wall,  or  by  wooden  shutters,  placed  on  the  ground 
at  an  angle  so  as  to  rest  against  the  wall;  but  I 
intend  to  be  more  luxurious,  and  to  have  cheap  glass 
lights,  in  lieu  of  shutters,  placed  against  the  walls, 
and  suffered  to  remain,  so  as  to  cover  the  trees  till  the 
fruit  is  fully  formed,  or  till  the  first  week  in  June, 
when  all  fear  of  damage  from  frost  is  over. 

Where  two  or  more  walls  are  built,  or  a  square 
piece  of  ground  devoted  to  them,  a  cross  wall  or 
walls  should  be  built  at  the  north-east  end,  to  prevent 
the  sharp  current  of  wind  from  the  north-east,  which 
would  blow  up  the  intervals  between  the  walls  with 
great  violence.  It  is  surprising  what  a  quantity  of 
fruit  may  be  grown  on  a  small  space  of  ground  with 
the  aid  of  these  walls !  Peaches,  nectarines,  and 
apricots  may  be  grown  on  the  S.  E.  aspect,  but  the 
trees  must  be  kept  in  check  by  biennial  removal.  I 
have  at  this  moment  more  than  two  thousand  yards  in 
length  of  them,  and  I  intend  to  add  to  them  annually, 
so  convinced  am  I  of  their  economy  and  utility.  They 
seem  to  me  most  particularly  suited  to  suburban, 
or  what  are  commonly  called  cockney  gardens.  How 
pleasant  to  be  able  to  have  a  brick  wall  twenty  yards 
long  for  six  pounds,  or  ten  yards  long  for  three 
pounds  !  and  how  delightful  to  be  able  to  grow  one?s 
own  "  wall  fruit !"  On  a  wall  ten  yards  long,  five 


CORDON  PEAR   TREES  ON   DWARF  WALLS.         39 

peach  and  nectarine  trees  may  be  trained,  and  many 
dozens  of  fruit  produced  annually.  These  dwarf 
walls  for  the  cultivation  of  peaches,  nectarines,  and 
apricots  must,  however,  differ  from  those  for  pear  trees, 
and  be  built  so  as  to  give  a  south  or  south-west  aspect 
for  the  front,  a  north  or  north-east  for  the  back.  The 
latter  may  be  planted  with  Morello  cherries.  To 
carry  out  the  cultivation  of  the  above-mentioned  trees 
on  dwarf  'walls,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  take 
them  up  biennially  in  November,  and  replant  them 
in  the  same  place.1  They  will  not  require  any  com- 
post to  their  roots,  for  peach,  nectarine,  and  apricot 
trees  are  generally  by  far  too  vigorous  in  their  growth. 
In  some  of  the  London  suburban  gardens  the  soil  is  so 
rich,  that  annual  removal,  particularly  with  apricots, 
may  be  found  to  be  quite  necessary.  In  country 
gardens  where  the  soil  is  poor,  a  dressing  of  manure 
on  the  surface  over  the  roots  two  inches  deep  will  be 
of  service.  The  peach  trees  on  my  experimental  wall 
are  removed  biennially.  The  soil  is  not  rich,  yet 
they  are  almost  too  vigorous ;  they  bear  fine  fruit  and 
give  good  crops. 

A  matter  of  great  consequence  in  peach  tree  cul- 
ture on  walls  is  to  keep  the  surface  of  the  soil  solid ; 
if,  therefore,  the  trees  grow  too  vigorously,  so  as 
to  require  removal,  say  in  October,  the  soil,  after  the 
tree  is  planted,  should,  after  becoming  dry,  be  ram- 
med with  a  wooden  rammer,  so  as  to  be  as  solid  as 
a  common  garden  path.  In  spring  this  hard  surface 
should  be  covered  with  a  slight  deposit  of  thoroughly 

1  It  is  a  prudent  practice  in  all  cases  of  biennial  removal  to  remove  half  the 
number  of  trees  in  alternate  years,  for  in  dry  seasons  those  recently  removed  may 
be  too  much  checked  in  their  growth. 


40  THE  MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN. 

decayed    manure,    which    will    be    all    the   culture 
required. 

ESPALIER   PEAKS    ON    QUINCE   STOCKS. 

Pears  on  the  quince  may  be  cultivated  as  horizontal 
espaliers  or  cordons  by  the  sides  of  walks,  or  trained 
to  lofty  walls  with  much  advantage,  as  less  space 
is  required.  Horizontal  espaliers,  or  wall  trees,  on 
the  pear  stock,  trained  to  walls  of  the  usual  height — 
i.  e.j  from  ten  to  twelve  feet — require  to  be  planted 
twenty  feet  apart,  while  those  on  the  quince  may 
be  planted  only  ten  feet  apart ;  this  in  a  small 
garden  will  allow  of  much  greater  variety  of  sorts  to 
supply  the  table  at  different  seasons.  With  these  the 
same  high  culture,  if  perfection  be  wished  for,  must 
be  followed ;  the  trees  carefully  planted,  so  that  the 
junction  of  the  graft  with  the  stock  is  even  with  the 
surface  of  the  mound  formed  as  directed  for  pyramids. 
The  pruning  of  wall  pear  trees  has  always  been  a 
subject  of  controversy  with  gardeners,  as  they  are 
inclined  to  grow  too  vigorously.  If  it  be  thought 
desirable  to  have  trees  of  large  growth,  so  as  to 
cover  a  high  wall,  and  yet  be  highly  fertile,  it  is  much 
better  to  root-prune  than  to  prune  the  branches. 
With  such  trees  it  need  not  be  done  so  severely : 
biennial  root-pruning  will  be  quite  sufficient,  com- 
mencing at  eighteen  inches  from  the  wall,  after  the 
tree  has  had  two  seasons'  growth,  cutting  off  the  ends 
of  all  the  roots  at  that  distance  from  the  wall,  and  in- 
creasing it  by  six  inches  at  every  biennial  pruning, 
till  a  distance  of  six  feet  from  the  wall  is  reached. 
When  this  is  the  case,  the  roots  must  be  confined 


ESPALIER   PEARS   ON   QUINCE   STOCKS.  41 

to  the  border  of  that  width  by  digging  a  trench  bien- 
nially, and  cutting  off  all  the  ends  of  the  roots  at  that 
distance  from  the  wall. 

I  may,  perhaps,  make  this  more  plain  by  saying 
that  a  tree  planted  in  November,  1860,  should  have 
its  roots  shortened  to  eighteen  inches  in  November, 
1862;  to  twenty -four  inches  in  1864  ;  to  thirty  inches 
in  1866;  to  three  feet  in  1868;  and  so  on,  leaving 
six  inches  biennially,  till,  say,  a  distance  of  six  feet 
from  the  wall  is  reached  in  1880.  This  border,  six 
feet  wide,1  will  then  be  full  of  fibrous  roots.  It  should 
never  be  dug  or  cropped,  but  annually  have  a  sur- 
face dressing  of  manure  about  two  inches  in  thick- 
ness; and,  as  I  have  before  said,  have  a  trench 
dug  biennially  eighteen  inches  deep,  six  feet  from  the 
wall,  and  the  end  of  every  protruding  root  cut  off.  If 
this  method  be  followed,  summer  pinching  to  three 
leaves  the  first  time,  and  to  one  leaf  afterward, 
of  the  spurs  on  all  the  leading  branches,  may  be 
practiced,  and  scarcely  any  winter  punning  will  be  re- 
quired. 

In  forming  borders  for  wall  pear  trees  on  quince 
stocks  biennially  root-pruned,  the  soil  should  be  well 
stirred  with  the  fork  to  a  depth  of  eighteen  inches, 
and  if  it  be  poor  a  good  dressing  of  rotten  manure  or 
leaf  mold  should  be  mixed  with  it.  Pears  on  quince 
stocks  are  much  better  adapted  for  this  mode  of  cul- 
ture than  those  on  pear  stocks.  If  the  latter  be 
planted,  the  border,  six  feet  wide,  should  have  a 

1  If  the  wall  to  which  the  trees  are  trained  be  twelve  feet  and  upward  in 
height,  the  border  should  be  eight  and  even  ten  feet  in  width.  Wide  and 
shallow  fruit  tree  borders  are  much  to  be  preferred  to  those  that  are  deep  and 
narrow. 


42  THE  MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

thick  layer  of  concrete  at  bottom,  to  prevent  the  roots 
striking  downward ;  or  it  would  be  good  practice  to 
place,  eighteen  inches  deep,  tinder  each  tree,  a  flat 
piece  of  stone,  three  feet  in  diameter — this  would 
force  the  roots  to  take  a  horizontal  direction,  and 
facilitate  the  operation  of  root-pruning. 

For  fine  specimens  of  wall  pear  trees  grafted  on  the 
quince,  I  may  refer  to  those  on  the  west  wall  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society's  Gardens  at  Chiswick. 
These  are  now  about  forty  years  old,  and  are  pictures 
of  health  and  fertility,  thus  at  once  settling  the  ques- 
tion respecting  the  early  decay  of  pear  trees  grafted 
on  the  quince;  for  it  has  been  often — very  often — 
urged  as  an  objection  to  the  use  of  the  quince  stock, 
that  pears  grafted  on  it  are,  although  prolific,  but  very 
short-lived.  I  have  seen  trees  in  France  more  than 
fifty  years  old,  and  those  above  referred  to  may  be 
adduced  to  confute  this  error. 

PEAK   TREES    TRAINED    SINGLE   AS    VERTICAL    CORDONS. 

The  French  gardeners  have  a  curious  yet  interesting 
mode  of  training  pears  on  the  quince  stock,  about 
which  a  book  was  published  in  France  a  few  years 
since.  The  system,  I  have  recently  learnt  from  some 
French  cultivators,  is  now  largely  practiced  in  the 
south  of  France  with  the  peach  apricot.  It  is  called 
training  "  en  fuseau,"  or  distaff  training  ;  and  is  the 
most  simple  of  all  modes.  A  young  tree,  one  year 
old  from  the  bud,  is  planted,  and  every  side  shoot,  as 
soon  as  it  has  made  four  leaves,  has  its  top  pinched  off, 
leaving  three.  This  is  the  first  pinching  early  in 
June.  These  pinched  shoots  all  put  forth  young 


A  PEAR  TREE  HEDGE.  43 

shoots,  which  must  be  pinched  to  one  leaf;  and  so  on 
with  all  the  young  shoots  during  the  summer,  and  the 
like  practice  every  season.  When  the  leading  shoot 
has  grown  twelve  inches,  its  top  should  be  pinched 
off,  and  as  soon  as  two  or  three  break  out  at  this 
point,  all  should  be  pinched  in  but  one  for  the  leader. 
A  very  compact  distaff-like  tree  is  thus  formed. 

For  small  gardens,  where  the  cultivator  wishes  for 
a  large  collection  of  pears  in  a  small  place,  this  (which 
is,  in  fact,  the  cordon  system  applied  to  single  stem- 
med trees)  is  to  be  recommended. 

A   PEAR   TREE   HEDGE. 

A  few  days  since,  when  visiting  a  friend  at  Fonte- 
nay  aux  Roses,  near  Paris,  I  was  much  struck  with  a 
hedge  formed  of  pear  trees  on  the  quince  stock.  He 
smiled  when  he  told  me  his  method  of  cultivation 
and  pruning,  the  latter  being  simply  clipping  his 
hedge  in  July,  with  the  garden  shears,1  and  thinning 
out  the  spurs  in  winter,  when  they  become  crowded. 
A  few  days  since  (July,  1862),  my  friend  paid  me  a 
visit,  and  I  inquired,  with  some  interest,  about  his 
pear  tree  hedge.  He  assured  me  that  it  was  perfectly 
healthy,  and  generally  gave  him  large  crops  of  fruit. 
The  sorts  proper  to  form  a  hedge  are  Louise  Bonne  of 
Jersey,  Beurre  d'Amanlis,  Beurre  Hardy,  Conseiller 
de  la  Cour,  Beurre  d'Aremberg,  Beurre  Superfin, 
Delices  de  Jodoigne,  Doyenne  du  Cornice,  Duchesse 
d' Angouleme,  Prince  Albert,  and  Yicar  of  Winkfield. 
These  are  all  free  growers  on  the  quince  stock,  and  if 

1  An  English  cultivator  would  employ  pruning  scissors  to  shorten  the  shoots, 
and  thus  make  his  hedge  look  as  if  cared  for. 


4i  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

planted  in  a  favorable  soil  and  climate  would  soon 
form  a  fruitful  hedge.  They  should  be  planted  about 
thirty  inches  apart,  and  in  masses,  i.  e.,  planting,  say 
ten  of  each  sort  together.  A  hedge  may  be  formed, 
varying  more  in  its  aspect  by  planting  one  or  two 
trees  of  each  sort  in  succession — this  is  a  mere  matter 
of  taste.  A  pear  tree  hedge  when  in  full  bloom  must 
have  an  agreeable  look,  and  when  full  of  fruit  be  very 
profitable. 

PYRAMIDS    ON   THE   PEAR    STOCK. 

There  are  some  dry,  warm,  shallow  soils,  more  par- 
ticularly those  resting  on  chalk  or  gravel,  which  are 
unfavorable  to  the  pear  on  the  quince  stock :  it  is 
difficult  to  make  them  flourish,  unless  great  care  is 
taken  in  mulching  the  surface,  and  giving  them  abund- 
ance of  water  and  liquid  manure  in  summer.  In  such 
soils,  pyramids  on  the  pear  stock  may  be  cultivated 
with  but  little  trouble. 

To  those  who  wish  to  train  them  as  they  should 
grow,  one-year-old  grafted  plants  may  be  selected, 
which  may  be  managed  as  directed  for  young  pyra- 
mids on  the  quince  stock.  If  trees  of  mature  growth 
are  planted,  they  will  require  the  treatment  recom- 
mended for  pyramids  on  the  quince  stock,  as  regards 
summer  pinching.  There  is  no  occasion,  however,  to 
make  a  mound  up  to  the  junction  of  the  graft  with 
the  stock,  as  the  pear  does  not  readily  emit  roots. 
Annual  root-pruning  is  almost  indispensable  to  pyra- 
mids on  pear  stocks  in  small  gardens,  and  it  will 
much  facilitate  this  operation  if  each  tree  be  planted 
on  a  small  mound,  the  roots  are  then  so  easily  brought 


PYRAMIDS   ON  THE   PEAR  STOCK.  45 

to  the  surface.  This  annual  operation,  which  should 
be  done  in  November,  may  be  dispensed  with  in  soils 
not  rich,  if  the  trees  be  lifted  biennially  in  that  month 
and  replanted,  merely  pruning  off  the  ends  of  any 
long  roots.  Annual  surface  manuring,  as  recom- 
mended for  pyramids  on  the  quince,  is  also  necessary, 
if  the  trees  be  root-pruned  or  biennially  removed. 

Trees  of  the  usual  size  and  quality  may  be  planted, 
and  suffered  to  remain  for  two  years  undisturbed, 
unless  the  soil  be  rich  and  they  make  vigorous  shoots 
(say  eighteen  inches  in  length)  the  first  season  after 
planting,  in  which  case  operations  may  then  com- 
mence the  first  season.  Thus,  supposing  a  tree  to  be 
planted  in  November  or  December,  it  may  remain 
untouched  two  years  from  that  period ;  and  then  as 
early  in  autumn  as  possible  a  circumferential  trench, 
twelve  inches  deep,  should  be  dug,  and  every  root  cut 
with  the  knife  and  brought  near  to  the  surface,  and 
the  spade  introduced  under  the  trees,  so  as  completely 
to  intercept  every  perpendicular  root. 

The  treddle  spade  used  in  this  part  of  Hertfordshire 
is  a  very  eligible  instrument  for  this  purpose,  as  the 
edge  is  steeled  and  very  sharp.  The  following  year, 
the  third  from  planting,  a  trench  may  be  again  opened, 
at  fifteen  inches  from  the  stem,  so  as  not  to  injure  the 
fibrous  roots  of  the  preceding  summer's  growth,  and 
the  knife  and  spade  again  used  to  cut  all  the  spread- 
ing and  perpendicular  roots  that  are  getting  out  of 
bounds.  The  fourth  y^ar  the  same  operation  may  be 
repeated  at  eighteen  inches  from  the  stem ;  and  in  all 
subsequent  root-pruning  this  distance  from  the  stem 
must  be  kept.  This  will  leave  enough  undisturbed 


46  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

earth  round  each  tree  to  sustain  as  much  fruit  as 
ought  to  grow,  for  the  object  is  to  obtain  a  small  pro- 
lific tree. 

I  find  that  in  the  course  of  years  a  perfect  mass  of 
fibrous  roots  is  formed,  which  only  requires  the  annual 
or  biennial  operation  (the  former  if  the  tree  be  very 
vigorous)  of  a  trench  being  dug,  and  the  ball  of  earth 
heaved  down  to  ascertain  whether  any  large  feeders 
are  making  their  escape  from  it,  and  to  cut  them  off. 
But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  circular  mass 
of  soil  -will  in  a  few  years  be  exhausted ;  to  remedy 
which,  I  have  had  left  round  each  tree,  eighteen 
inches  from  the  stem,  a  slight  depression  of  the  soil, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  trench  has  not  been  quite  filled 
in.  This  circular  furrow  I  have  had  filled,  in  Decem- 
ber and  January,  with  fresh  liquid  night  soil,  cover- 
ing it  with  a  coat  of  burnt  earth  two  inches  thick, 
which  has  had  a  most  excellent  effect.  Any  other 
liquid  manure  would  undoubtedly  have  been  equally 
efficacious,  but  my  soil  was  poor,  and  I  thought  it 
required  strong  manure.  As  it  did  not  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  roots,  no  injury  resulted  from  using  such 
a  powerful  raw  manure. 

There  is  no  absolute  necessity  for  liquid  manuring 
in  winter,  as  common  dung  may  be  laid  round  each 
tree  in  autumn,  and  suffered  to  be  washed  in  by  the 
rains  in  winter,  and  drawn  in  by  the  worms.  In 
mentioning  liquid  manure,  I  give  the  result  of  my 
own  practice.  The  great  end  to  attain  seems  (to  use 
an  agricultural  phrase)  to  be  able  "  to  feed  at  home ;" 
that  is,  to  give  the  mass  of  spongioles  enough  nutri- 
mont  in  li  small  space.  A  tree  will  then  make  shoots 


ROOT-PRUNING   ANH  REMOVING.  4Y 

from  eight  to  ten  inches  long  in  one  season  (for  such 
ought  to  be  the  maximum  of  growth),  and  at  the 
same  time  be  able  to  produce  abundance  of  blossom- 
buds  and  fruit.  On  trees  of  many  varieties,  the  for- 
mer will  be  in  too  great  abundance:  removing  a 
portion  in  early  spring,  cutting  them  out  with  a  sharp 
knife,  so  as  leave  each  fruit-spur  about  three  inches 
apart,  is  excellent  culture. 

I  have  riot  yet  mentioned  the  possibility  of  root- 
pruning  fruit  trees  of  twenty  or  thirty  years'  growrth 
with  advantage.  Irregular  amputation  of  the  roots 
of  too  vigorous  fruit  trees  is,  I  am  aware,  an  old  prac- 
tice ;  but  the  regular,  and  annual  or  biennial  prun- 
ing of  them,  so  as  to  keep  a  tree  full  of  youth  and 
vigor  in  a  stationary  and  prolific  state,  has  not,  that 
I  am  aware  of,  been  recommended  by  any  known 
author,  although  it  may  have  been  practiced.  In 
urging  its  applicability  to  trees  of  twenty  or  thirty 
years'  growth,  I  must  recommend  caution  :  the  cir- 
cular trench  should  not  be  nearer  the  stem  of  a 
standard  tree  than  three  feet,  or,  if  it  be  a  wall  tree, 
four  feet,  and  only  two-thirds  of  the  roots  should  be 
pruned  the  first  season,  leaving  one-third  to  support 
the  tree,  so  that  it  can  not  be  blown  on  one  side  by  the 
wind — and  these,  of  course,  must  be  left  where  they 
will  best  give  this  support.  The  following  season 
•  half  the  remaining  roots  may  be  cut,  or,  if  the  tree  be 
inclined  to  vigor,  all  of  them ;  but  if  it  gives  symp- 
toms of  being  checked  too  much,  they  may,  on  the. 
contrary,  remain  undisturbed  for  one,  or  even  two 
seasons.  If,  as  is  often  the  case  in  pear  trees,  the 
roots  are  nearly  all  perpendicular,  the  tree  must  be 

3* 


43  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

supported  with  stakes  for  one  or  two  years  after  com- 
plete root-pruning. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  recently  re- 
ceived from  C.  Koach  Smith,  Esq.,  the  archaeologist, 
is  interesting,  as  showing  the  prompt  effects  of  root- 
pruning  of  trees  : — "  I  have  only  been  a  horticulturist 
for  three  years ;  I  took  to  two  very  beautiful  old  pear 
trees,  which  must  have  cost  no  end  of  nailing,  cutting, 
and  staking.  On  inquiry,  I  found  that  one  (a  Sum- 
mer Bon  Chretien)  had  never  produced  more  than 
one  pear  annually  ;  the  other,  upon  a  north  wall,  had 
never  given  a  single  pear.  I  could  get  no  aid  from 
any  one  what  to  do  with  these  trees,  and  no  book 
then  accessible  helped  me.  I  reflected  on  the  natural 
habit  of  the  pear  tree,  and,  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  cause  of  barrenness  was  exuberance  of  roots, 
I  resolved  to  cut  them.  Before  the  leaves  had  fallen, 
a  friend  sent  me  '  The  Retired  Gardener,'  an  old  book, 
translated  from  the  French.  In  it  I  found  an  account 
of  some  experiments  made  in  England,  which  fortified 
me  in  the  resolution  I  had  taken.  The  first  year  the 
Summer  Bon  Chretien *  produced  nine  fruit.  I 
pruned  the  roots  more  closely,  and  this  year  (1859), 
in  spite  of  the  ungenial  spring,  I  saved  fifty-nine 
pears.  The  other  tree  yielded  thirty-six,  but  of  so  vile 
a  quality  that  I  have  re-grafted  the  tree.  A  large 
plum,  treated  in  the  same  way,  produced,  the  season 
after  being  root-pruned,  2000  fruit." 

It  will  not,  perhaps,  be  out  of  place  here  to  enume- 
rate a  few  of  the  advantages  of  systematic  root-prun- 
ing and  removing  or  lifting  of  pear,  apple,  and  plum 

1  This    is   one  of  our  oldest  varieties,  find  remarkable  fur  being  a  very  $Ly 
bearer 


ROOT-PRUNING  AND   REMOVING.  4.9 

tress,  and  of  growing  them  as  pyramidal  trees  and 
bushes. 

1st.  Their  eligibility  for  small  gardens,  even  the 
smallest. 

2dly.  The  facility  of  thinning  the  blossom-buds, 
and  in  some  varieties,  such  as  Garisel's  Bergamot  and 
other  shy-bearing  sorts,  of  setting  the  blossoms,  and 
of  thinning  and  gathering  the  fruit. 

3dly.  Their  making  the  gardener  independent  of 
the  natural  soil  of  his  garden,  as  a  few  barrowfuls  of 
rich  mold  and  annual  manure  on  the  surface  will  sup- 
port a  tree  for  many,  very  many  years,  thus  placing  bad 
soils  nearly  on  a  level  with  those  the  most  favorable. 

4thly.  The  capability  of  removing  trees  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  years'  growth  with  as  much  facility  as  fur- 
niture. To  tenants,  this  will,  indeed,  be  a  boon,  for 
perhaps  one  of  the  greatest  annoyances  a  tenant  is 
subject  to,  is  that  of  being  obliged  to  leave  behind  him 
trees  that  he  has  nurtured  with  the  utmost  care. 

My  gray  hairs  tell  me  that  I  am  not  a  young  gar- 
dener, and  yet  I  feel  that  in  judicious  root-pruning 
and  annual  manuring  on  the  surface,  so  as  to  keep  our 
fruit  trees  full  of  short,  well-ripened  fruitful  shoots,  we 
are  all  inexperienced.  At  this  moment  I  am  remind- 
ed of  a  wall  in  a  neighboring  garden  covered  with 
peach  and  nectarine  trees  in  the  finest  possible  health. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  a  healthy  peach  tree 
was  never  seen  in  this  garden,  as  the  subsoil  is  a  cold 
white  clay,  full  of  chalk-stones.  This  happy  change 
has  been  brought  about  by  biennially  pruning  the 
roots  of  the  trees  early  in  autumn,  as  soon  as  the  fruit 
is  gathered ;  in  some  cases  lifting  the  trees  and  sup- 


50  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

plying  their  roots  with  a  dressing  of  leaf-mold,  sand, 
and  rotten  manure,  equal  parts.  Powdered  charcoal, 
or  the  ashes  of  burnt  turf  and  rotten  manure,  also 
make  an  excellent  root-dressing  for  cold  heavy  soils  ; 
but  if  the  soil  be  dry  and  poor,  and  unfavorable  to 
the  peach  and  nectarine,  loam  and  rotten  manure  is 
the  best  dressing  for  the  roots,  and  also  for  the  surface. 

PLANTING   AND    AOTEK   MANAGEMENT. 

Pyramidal  pear  trees  of  from  three  to  five  years  old 
on  the  quince  stock,  root-pruned,  and  full  of  blossom- 
buds,  may  now  be  purchased.  Trees  of  this  descrip- 
tion should,. if  possible,  be  planted  before  Christmas; 
but  if  the  soil  be  very  tenacious,  the  holes  may  be 
opened  in  the  autumn,  and  the  trees  planted  in 
February ;  the  soil  will  be  mellowed  and  benefited 
by  the  frosts  of  winter.1 

Pear  trees  grafted  on  the  quince  stock  offer  a  curi- 
ous anomaly,  for  if  they  are  removed  quite  late  in 
spring — say  toward  the  end  of  March,  when  their 
blossom-buds  are  just  on  the  point  of  bursting — they 
will  bear  a  fine  and  often  an  abundant  crop  of  fruit. 
This  is  sometimes  owing  to  the  blossoms  being  re- 
tarded, and  thus  escaping  the  spring  frosts ;  but  it  has 
so  often  occurred  here  when  no  frosts  have  visited  us 
that  I  notice  it — in  fact,  no  trees  bear  late  removal  so 
well  as  pears  on  quince  stocks. 

1  The  roots  of  pear  trees  on  the  quince  stock,  and,  indeed,  of  all  root-pruned 
trees  are  very  fibrous.  In  planting,  it  is  good  practice  to  give  each  tree  two 
shovelfuls  of  fine  earth  or  mold  rather  dry — to  place  it  on  the  roots  and  shake  the 
tree,  so  that  the  mold  is  well  mixed  with  the  mass  of  fibrous  roots.  Before  the 
soil  is  all  filled  in,  three  or  four  gallons  of  water  should  be  poured  in,  so  as  to  wash 
the  earth  into  every  crevice.  The  roots  should  not  be  crammed  into  a  small  holo. 
A  tree,  with  its  roots  18  inches  in  diameter,  will  require  a  hole  2  J  feet  in  diameter, 
and  so  on  in  proportion. 


PLANTING  AND   AFTER   MANAGEMENT. 


51 


In  planting  pear  trees  on  the  quince  stock,  it  is 
quite  necessary  that  the  stock  should  be  covered  up  to 
its  junction  with  the  graft.  This  joining  of  the  graft 
to  the  stock  is  generally  very  evident,  even  to  the 
most  ignorant  in  gardening  matters ;  it  usually  as- 
sumes the  form  as  given  in  Fig.  11,  a. 

If  the  soil  be  not  excessively  wet, 
the  tree  may  be  placed  in  a  hole,  say 
three  feet  in  diameter  and  eighteen 
inches  deep,  in  the  usual  way,  so  that 
the  upper  roots  are  slightly  above  the 
level  of  the  surface,  as  the  tree  will 
always  settle  down  two  or  three  inches 
the  first  season  after  planting.  Some 
of  the  light  compost  recommended  in 
page  19  should  be  filled  in,  and  the 
tree  well  shaken,  so  that  it  is  thor- 
oughly mingled  with  its  roots.  The 
compost  must  then  be  trodden  down  ; 
and  so  far  the  planting  is  finished.  The  earth  should 
then  be  placed  round  the  stem,  and  formed  into  a 
mound,  which  should  cover  the  stock  up  to,  but  not 
abow,  the  junction  of  the  graft  with  the  stock,  in 
order  to  encourage  it  to  emit  roots  into  the  surface 
soil,  and  to  keep  it  (the  stock)  from  becoming  hard 
and  "  bark-bound." 

To  make  this  emission  of  roots  more  certain,  the 
stem  may  be  tongued,  as  usual  in  layering — i.  e.,  the 
bark  must  be  cut  through  upward  from  the  root,  and 
a  slip  about  one  inch  in  length  raised  (see  Fig.  11,  5, 
S,  which  are  the  raised  pieces  of  bark) ;  and  these 
raised  pieces  of  bark  must  be  kept  open  by  inserting 


FlQ.  11. 


52  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

a  piece  of  broken  flower-pot  or  slate.  Several  of  these 
tongues  may  be  made,  and  by  the  end  of  the  first 
year  after  planting  every  incision  will  have  emitted 
roots ;  the  stock,  owing  to  its  being  kept  constantly 
moist,  will  swell  and  keep  pace  with  the  graft,  and 
the  tree  will  flourish  and  remain  healthy.  As  the 
mound  will  subside  by  the  heavy  rains  of  winter,  pre- 
suming that  the  trees  have  been  planted  in  autumn, 
fresh  compost  of  the  same  nature  must  be  added  in 
spring,  and  every  succeeding  autumn.  A  quarter  of 
a  peck  of  soot,  strewed  on  the  surface  in  a  circle  three 
feet  in  diameter  round  each  tree  in  March,  is  an  ex- 
cellent stimulant.  The  great  object  in  the  culture  of 
the  pear  on  the  quince  stock  is  to  encourage  the 
growth  of  its  very  fibrous  roots  at  the  surface,  so  that 
they  may  feel  the  full  influence  of  the  sun  and  air. 
The  slight  mounds  recommended  may  be  made  orna- 
mental if  required,  by  placing  pieces  of  rock  or  flint 
on  them,  which  will  also  prevent  the  birds  scratching 
at  them  for  worms;  but  the  stones  selected  must  not  be 
very  large  and  heavy — they  should  be  about  the  size 
and  weight  of  a  brick.  In  light  friable  soils,  the 
mounds  may  be  from  three  to  four  inches  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  surrounding  soil ;  in  heavy  retentive  wet 
soils,  from  six  to  eight  inches  will  not  be  found  too 
high. 

In  soils  of  a  light  dry  nature  the  pear  on  the  quince 
requires  careful  culture.  I  therefore  recommend  the 
surface  round  the  tree  to  be  covered,  during  June, 
July,  and  August  with  short  litter,  or  manure,  and  to 
give  the  trees  once  a  week,  in  dry  weather,  a  drench- 
ing with  guano  water  (about  one  pound  to  ten  gal- 


PLANTING  AND   AFTER  MANAGEMENT.  53 

Ions),  which  must  be  well  stirred  before  it  is  used. 
Each  tree  should  have  ten  gallons  poured  gradually 
into  the  soil ;  by  this  method  the  finest  fruit  may  be 
produced  ;  and  as  it  is  very  probable  that,  ere  many 
years  elapse,  we  shall  have  exhibitions  of  pears,  this 
will  be  the  mode  to  procure  fine  specimens  to  show 
for  prizes.  Our  oldest  gardening  authors  have  said, 
that  "pears  ingrafted  on  the  quince  stock  give  the 
fairest  fruit ;"  and  they  are  correct.  It  has  been  as- 
serted that  the  fruit  is  liable  to  be  gritty  and  deficient 
in  flavor.  I  can  only  say,  that  from  my  trees,  grow- 
ing on  a  cold  clayey  soil,  I  have  tasted  fruit  of  Marie 
Louise,  Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey,  and  others,  all  that 
could  be  wished  for  in  size  and  flavor. 

In  the  course  of  my  experience,  and  since  the  above 
recommendation  to  plant  on  mounds  was  written,  I 
have  found  it  good  practice  in  very  dry  soils  to  plant 
pear  trees  on  the  quince  stock  with  the  junction  of 
the  graft  just  level  with  the  surface,  so  as  not  to  re- 
quire mounds  round  their  stems.  The  first  season  they 
should  have  some  manure  on  the  surface,  laid  in  a  circle 
round  the  stem  ;  and  the  second  year  a  shallow  basin, 
two  feet  in  diameter  and  four  inches  deep,  should  be 
dug  round  the  stem,  and  filled  with  some  manure  about 
half  rotten.  This  basin  thus  filled  will  keep  moist 
even  in  the  most  dry  and  hot  weather,  and  will  become 
full  of  fibrous  roots.  This  is  also  an  excellent  method 
of  renovating  pear  trees  that  have  exhausted  them- 
selves by  bearing  too  abundantly,  or  that  appear  un- 
healthy by  their  leaves  turning  yellow.  In  such 
cases,  when  the  trees  are  of  advanced  growth,  a  basin 
of  the  same  depth,  but  three  or  more  feet  in  diameter, 


54  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

should  be  formed  and  filled  with  manure :  in  all 
cases  for  this  purpose  this  should  be  but  slightly  decom- 
posed. 

BUSH   PEAK   TREES    FOR    A   MARKET   GARDEN. 

There  are  many  favorable  sunny  spots  which  the 
amateur  gardener  may  turn  to  profit  accompanied  by 
pleasure,  simply  by  planting  bush  pear  trees  grafted 
on  the  quince  stock.  The  plantation  should  be  a  sort 
of  nursery,  and  for  this  purpose  they  should  be  plant- 
ed in  rows,  three  feet  row  from  row,  and  three  feet 
apart  in  the  rows ;  a  piece  of  ground  planted  after 
this  method  will  contain  4,840  trees  per  imperial  acre. 

By  pinching  every  shoot  to  three  leaves  all  the 
summer,  the  trees  form  compact  fruitful  bushes ;  this 
constant  summer  pinching  has  a  remarkable  effect  in 
moderating  the  vigor  of  fruit  trees.  They  will  com- 
mence to  bear  the  second  year  after  planting,  and  if 
each  tree  give  but  ten  or  twelve  fruit,  one  acre  will  pro- 
duce a  large  quantity.  They  may  be  suffered  to  re- 
main at  the  above  distance  un root-pruned,  and  unre- 
moved  for  seven,  eight,  or  ten  years ;  and  then,  as  they 
will  nearly  or  quite  touch  each  other,  every  alter- 
nate tree  should  be  removed,  and  another  plantation 
formed.  The  removal  of  the  trees  should  be  done  care- 
fully, so  that  those  left  will  stand  four  feet  and  a  half 
apart  and  in  quincunx  order,  thus,  **  *.  This  may  be 
done  as  follows  : — Presuming  the  first  row  to  consist 
of  ten  trees,  begin  at  the  first  row  by  removing  the 
1st,  3d,  5th,  Yth,  and  9th  trees ;  in  the  second  row, 
remove  the  2d,  4th7  6th,  8th,  and  10th  ;  in  the  third 
row,  again  1st,  3d,  5th,  7th,  and  9th  trees,  and  so  on 


BUSH  PEAR   TREES  FOR  A   MARKET   GARDEN.       55 

with  all,  and  through  all  the  rows  however  long  ;  at 
this  distance  they  may  remain  for  fourteen,  eighteen, 
or  twenty  years.  At  the  end  of  one  of  these  periods, 
every  alternate  row  of  trees  must  be  removed,  leav- 
ing the  permanent  trees  six  feet  apart :  the  periods  of 
removal  must,  to  a  certain  extent,  depend  upon  the 
nature  of  the  soil ;  if  this  be  of  high  fertility,  the  re- 
moval of  the  trees  must  be  commenced  at  the  earlier 
period.  It  may  sound  strangely  to  the  routine  gar- 
dener to  advise  the  removal  of  fruit  trees  when  twenty 
years  old ;  but  I  say  this  advisedly,  for  the  trees  in  a 
plantation  of  Louise  Bonne  pears  on  the  quince  stock, 
planted  here  twenty  years  since,  in  rows  five  feet 
apart,  were  recently  removed  and  have  succeeded  well, 
commencing  to  bear  fine  crops  the  second  season  after 
being  transplanted.  When  pyramidal  trees  from  ten  to 
twenty  years  old  are  removed,  their  branches  should 
all  be  shortened  to  at  least  one-half  their  length. 
Although  these  trees  were  planted  only  five  feet  apart 
and  have  grown  well,  they  did  not — and  those  left  un- 
removed  do  not — touch  each  other ;  this  is,  of  course, 
owing  to  their  young  shoots  having  been  pinched  in 
every  summer  for  so  many  seasons. 

From  closely  observing  these  trees  for  many  years, 
and  even  to-day  (July  20th,  1864),  upon  measuring 
the  shoots  of  the  unremoved  trees,  and  finding  they  do 
not  meet  by  at  least  fifteen  inches,  I  have  based  the 
idea  conveyed  by  the  heading  of  these  paragraphs, 
p.  54.  It  may  be  asked,  why  not  plant  pyramids, 
which  are  handsome  and  productive  ?  Experience 
furnishes  me  with  a  reply :  When  my  2,000  pyramids 
of  Louise  Bonne  pears  commenced  to  bear  their  large 


56  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

crops  of  fruit,  I  found  so  many  displaced  by  the  wind 
that  supporting  them  with  stakes  became  expensive 
and  troublesome ;  I  therefore  recommend  all  those, 
who  wish  to  make  their  pear-tree  plantations  profita- 
ble as  well  as  pleasurable,  to  plant  bush  trees.1  In 
sheltered  gardens  the  amateur  may  without  hesitation 
continue  to  plant  pyramids,  for  no  description  of  fruit 
tree  can  be  more  interesting ;  but  when  profit  is  to  be 
attached  to  cultivation,  and  fruit  trees  cultivated  by 
the  acre,  the  bush  form  must  be  adhered  to.  The 
varieties  best  adapted  to  this  mode  of  culture  are,  first 
and  best,  Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey,  Fondante  d'Au- 
tomne,  Beurre  d'Aremberg,  Beurre  Superfin,  Williams's 
Bon  Chretien,  Beurre  Bachelier,  Winter  Nelis,  and 
Bergamotte  d'Esperen.  If  more  robust  growing  sorts 
are  planted,  such  as  Beurre  Diel,  Beurre  d'Amanlis, 
Beurre  Hardy,  and  some  others,  the  plantation  should 
be  commenced  with  rows  four  feet  apart,  and  the 
trees  four  feet  apart  in  the  rows.  The  ground  occu- 
pied by  the  plantation  should  be  stirred  with  the 
Parkes'  steel  fork  every  season,  in  February  or  March, 
but  not  deeper  than  from  four  to  five  inches,  and  the 
weeds  carefully  turned  down.  In  the  summer  the 
weeds  must  be  kept  under  by  hoeing,  which  will  keep 
the  surface  loose  and  promote  the  health  of  the  trees  ; 
without  this  stirring  with  the  fork  in  early  spring,  the 
soil  would  become  too  hard  during  the  summer  for 
hoeing  with  facility. 

GATHERING   THE    FEUIT. 

The   fruit   of  pears,   more   particularly   those    on 

1   These  may  be  with  advantage  a  sort  of  hybrid  bush  tree,  partaking  a  little  of 
the  pyramid,  and  allowed  to  grow  to  a  height  of  four  or  five  feet. 


GATHERING  THE   FRUIT.  57 

quince  stocks,  should  not  be  suffered  to  ripen  on  the 
tree  ;  the  summer  and  autumn  varieties  should  be 
gathered  before  they  are  quite  ripe,  and  left  to  ripen 
in  the  fruit  room.1  The  late  pears  should  be  gather- 
ed before  the  leaves  take  their  autumnal  tints  ;  if  suf- 
fered to  remain  too  long  on  the  trees,  they  frequently 
never  ripen,  but  continue  hard  till  they  rot.  In  most 
seasons,  the  first  and  second  week  in  October  is  a 
good  time ;  but  much  depends  on  soil  and  climate. 
The  following  passage  from  that  very  excellent  work, 
Downing's  "  Fruit  Trees  of  America,"  is  appropriate 
to  this  subject : — 

"  The  pear  is  a  peculiar  fruit  in  one  respect,  which 
should  always  be  kept  in  mind — viz.,  that  most  varie- 
ties are  vnuch  finer  in  flavor  if  picked  from  the  tree, 
and  ripened  in  the  house,  than  if  allowed  to  become 
fully  matured  on  the  tree.  There  are  a  few  excep- 
tions to  this  rule,  but  they  are  very  few.  And,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  know  a  great  many  varieties 
which  are  only  second  or  third  rate  when  ripened  on 
the  tree,  but  possess  the  highest  and  richest  flavor  if 
gathered  at  the  proper  time,  and  allowed  to  mature 
in  the  house.  This  proper  season  is  easily  known, 
first  by  the  ripening  of  a  few  full-grown  but  worm- 
eaten  specimens,  which  fall  soonest  from  the  tree ; 
and,  secondly,  by  the  change  of  color,  and  the  readi- 
ness of  the  stalk  to  part  from  its  branch  on  gently 
raising  the  fruit.  The  fruit  should  then  be  gathered 
— or  so  much  of  the  crop  as  appears  sufficiently  ma- 
tured— and  spread  out  on  shelves  in  the  fruit-room, 

1  Pears  that  ripen  in  September  and  October  should  not  be  gathered  all  at  one 
time,  but  at  intervals  of  a  week  or  so,  making,  say,  three  gatherings;  their  season 
is  thus  much  prolonged. 


58  TEE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

or  upon  the  floor  of  the  garret.  Here  it  will  gradual- 
ly assume  its  full  color  and  become  deliciously  melt- 
ing and  luscious.  Many  sorts,  which,  if  suffered  to 
ripen  in  the  sun  and  open  air,  are  rather  dry,  when 
ripened  within  doors,  are  most  abundantly  melting 
and  juicy.  They  will  also  last  for  a  considerably 
longer  period  if  ripened  in  this  way,  maturing  grad- 
ually as  wanted  for  use,  and  being  thus  beyond  the 
risk  of  loss  or  injury  by  violent  storms  or  high  winds. 

"  Winter  dessert  pears  should  be  allowed  to  hang 
on  the  tree  as  long  as  possible,  till  the  nights  become 
frosty.1  They  should  then  be  wrapped  separately  in 
paper,  packed  in  kegs,  barrels,  or  small  boxes,  and 
placed  in  a  cool,  dry  room,  free  from  frost.  Some 
varieties,  as  the  Beurre  d'Aremberg,  will  ripen  finely 
with  no  other  care  than  placing  them  in  barrels  in 
the  cellar,  like  apples.  But  most  kinds  of  the  finer 
Avinter  dessert  pears  should  be  brought  into  a  warm 
apartment  for  a  couple  of  weeks  before  their  usual 
season  of  maturity.  They  should  be  kept  covered,  to 
prevent  shrivelling.  Many  sorts,  that  are  compara- 
tively tough  if  ripened  in  a  cold  apartment,  become 
very  melting,  buttery,  and  juicy,  when  allowed  to 
mature  in  a  room  kept  at  the  temperature  of  60  or  70 
degrees." 

The  following  is  from  Mr.  Glasses  u  Gardening 
Book,"  as  given  in  the  Gardener's  Chronicle : — 

HOW  TO  STOKE  WINTER  PEARS  IN  SMALL  QUANTITIES. 

"  Get  some  unglazed  jars — garden  pots  will   do ; 

1  I  feel  compelled  to  differ  from  Mr.  D.  in  this  respect ;  for  in  the  autumn  of 
1S55  I  suffered  many  pears  to  hang  on  the  trees  till  the  end  of  October,  and  they 
never  ripened.  I  believe  the  first  week  in  October  to  be  the  best  period  to  gather 
winter  pears  in. 


KEEPING-  PEARS  IN  A  GREENHOUSE.  59 

make  them  perfectly  clean,  if  they  have  ever  been 
used.  The  best  way  is  to  half  burn  or  bake  them 
over  again. 

"  Gather  your  pears  very  carefully,  so  as  not  to  rnb 
off  the  bloom  or  break  the  stalk.  On  no  account 
knock  them  about  so  as  to  bruise  them.  Put  them 
on  a  dry  sweet  shelf,  to  sweat.  When  the  sweating 
is  over,  rub  them  dry  with  a  soft  cloth,  as  tenderly  as 
if  you  were  dry-rubbing  a  baby. 

"  As  soon  as  they  are  quite  dry,  put  them,  one  over 
the  other,  into  the  jars  or  garden  pots,  without  any 
sort  of  packing ;  close  up  the  mouth  of  the  jar  loosely, 
or  of  the  garden-pot,  by  whelming  the  pan  or  placing 
a  piece  of  slate  over  it,  and  stow  them  away  in  a  dark- 
ish closet  where  they  cannot  get  the  frost. 

"  Open  the  jars  now  and  then,  to  see  how  they  are 
getting  on. 

"  Do  not  put  more  than  one  sort  in  the  same  jar,  if 
you  can  help  it.  Mind — the  warmer  they  are  kept, 
the  faster  they  will  ripen." 

KEEPING  PEAKS  IN  A  GREENHOUSE. 

I  have  but  very  recently  found  that  pears  may  be 
kept  in  a  greenhouse,  in  great  perfection,  all  the 
winter. 

The  greenhouse  in  which  my  experiment  has  been 
tried  is  a  lean-to  house  with  a  S.  "W.  aspect,  twelve  feet 
wide,  with  a  path  in  the  centre,  a  bench  in  front,  of 
common  slates  laid  on  wooden  bars,  and  a  stage  at 
back,  full  of  camellias.  My  pears  have  been  laid  on 
the  front  bench,  the  glass  over  them  shaded  till  the 
end  of  November,  the  house  ventilated,  and  the 


60  THE    MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

camellias  watered  just  as  if  the  pears  were  not 
there.  In  severe  frosts,  the  temperature  was  kept 
just  above  freezing.  The  autumn  pears  under  this 
treatment  ripened  slowly,  and  were  of  excellent 
flavor.  The  late  pears  kept  till  April ;  but  then, 
owing  to  the  power  of  the  sun,  the  air  of  the  house 
became  too  warm  and  dry,  and  they  shrivelled.  I 
should  therefore  recommend  winter  pears  to  be  kept 
in  the  greenhouse  in  covered  pots  or  jars  (I  now  use 
large  clean  flower-pots  with  wooden  covers),  placing 
them  in  early  in  December, 

Mr.  Tillery,  of  the  Wellbeck  Gardens,  keeps  his 
choice  pears  and  apples  in  boxes  of  bran  with  great 
success.  The  bran,  before  it  is  used,  should  be 
thoroughly  dried  and  sifted,  so  as  to  take  from  it  all 
the  small  particles  of  meal.  With  this  treatment 
pears  and  apples  may  be  placed  in  it  as  soon  as  they 
are  gathered.  The  boxes  should  be  quite  shallow,  so 
as  to  admit  of  only  one  layer  of  fruit,  which  should 
be  covered  with  the  bran,  and  no  lids  placed  on  the 
boxes.  The  bran  is  apt  to  become  musty. 

PYRAMIDAL    APPLE   TREES    ON   THE   PARADISE   APPLE 
STOCK. 

Apples  as  pyramids  on  the  Paradise  stock  are  ob- 
jects of  great  beauty  and  utility.  This  stock,  like  the 
quince,  is  remarkable  for  its  tendency  to  emit  numerous 
fibrous  roots  near  the  surface,  and  for  contracting  the 
growth  of  the  graft,  causing  it  to  become  fruitful  at  a 
very  early  stage.  On  the  Continent  there  are  two 
varieties  of  the  apple  under  this  denomination — viz., 
the  Doucin  and  the  I?omme  de  Paradis ;  these  are 


PYRAMIDAL  APPLE   TREES.  61 

called  Paradise  stocks  in  England,  but  on  the  Conti- 
nent the  first  and  last  are  used  for  distinct  purposes — 
the  first  for  pyramids,  the  latter  for  dwarf  bushes. 

The  Doucin  stock  is,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  the 
same  as  that  called  " Dutch  Creeper,"  or  "Dutch 
Paradise,"  by  Miller,  in  his  Dictionary,  folio  edition 
of  1759.  It  puts  forth  abundance  of  fibrous  roots 
near  the  surface  of  the  soil,  and  is  not  inclined  to  root 
deeply  into  it  like  the  crab.  Apples  grafted  on  this 
stock  are  more  vigorous  than  when  grafted  on  the 
true  Paradise  stock,  and  less  so  than  those  on  the 
crab ;  it  is,  therefore,  well  adapted  for  garden  trees, 
for  they  are  easily  lifted,  their  roots  thus  kept  to  the 
surface,  and  the  tree  consequently  kept  free  from 
canker.  There  is  another  surface-rooting  apple,  also 
well  adapted  for  stocks — the  Burr  Knot.  This,  like 
the  Doucin,  will  strike  root,  if  stout  cuttings,  two  or 
three  years  old,  are  planted  two-thirds  of  their  length 
in  a  moist  soil :  it  is  a  large,  handsome,  and  very  good 
culinary  apple.  At  Ware  Park,  in  Hertfordshire, 
this  is  called  Byde's  Walking-stick  Apple,  owing  to 
Mr.  Byde,  the  former  proprietor  of  the  place,  often 
planting  branches  with  his  own  hand,  which  soon 
formed  nice  bearing  trees. 

Among  apples  raised  from  seed,  some  will  occa- 
sionally be  found  with  this  surface-rooting  nature ;  and 
this  is,  I  suspect,  the  reason  why  the  Doucin  stock, 
under  the  name  of  the  Paradise,  common  in  the  Eng- 
lish nurseries,  differs  from  the  sorts  used  as  Doucins  in 
France :  there  are  also  two  or  three  varieties  culti- 
vated there. 

About  forty  years  since,  I  raised  a  large  number  of 


62  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

apples  from  the  pips  of  the  Golden  Pippin,  Golden 
Reinette,  Ribston  Pippin,  and  other  esteemed  sorts. 
These,  in  course  of  time,  all  bore  fruit,  but,  as  not  one 
was  found  superior  to  its  parent,  I  did  not  cultivate 
them.  Why  I  mention  this  is,  that  among  my  seed- 
lings were  several  that  put  out  roots  near  the  surface, 
and  the  cuttings  of  which  struck  root.  It  is  only 
within  these  few  years  that  I  have  had  my  attention 
drawn  to  two  of  these,  one  of  which  has  very  broad 
leaves,  and  a  most  healthy  and  vigorous  habit ;  the 
other,  a  habit  equally  vigorous,  but  with  a  great  tend- 
ency to  form  fruit-spurs.  The  former  I  have  named 
the  Broad-leaved  Paradise,  the  latter,  the  Nonesuch 
Paradise ;  they  are  likely  to  form  a  revolution  in  ap- 
ple culture,  as  the  varieties  of  apples  grafted  on  them 
form  such  healthy  and  fruitful  trees. 

The  Pomme  de  Paradis  seems  identical  with  the 
"  dwarf  apple  of  Armenia,"  referred  to  in  the  "  Jour- 
nal of  the  Horticultural  Society,"  Part  2,  Vol.  3, 
page  115.  It  is  exceedingly  dwarf  in  its  habit,  and 
too  tender  for  this  climate,  unless  in  very  warm  and 
dry  soils.  Out  of  2,000  imported  in  1845,  more  than 
half  died  the  first  season,  and  two-thirds  of  the  re- 
mainder the  following.  They  were  planted  in  fine 
fertile  loam,  favorable  to  the  growth  of  apples,  and  on 
which  the  Doucin,  planted  the  same  season,  grew 
with  the  greatest  vigor.  The  same  result  attended 
an  importation  of  2,000  in  1846.  I  have  now  potted 
some  plants,  and  owing,  as  I  suppose,  to  the  roots 
being  warmed  through  the  pots  by  exposure  to  the 
sun,  they  seem  inclined  to  make  very  nice  little  fruit- 
ful bushes — in  fact,  real  miniature  apple  trees,  bearing 


PYRAMIDAL   APPLE   TREES.  63 

fruit  when  only  nine  inches  in  height.  My  trees  are 
in  eight-inch  pots ;  but,  to  have  healthy  fertile  trees, 
I  should  recommend  them  to  be  gradually  shifted 
into  fifteen-inch  pots.  The  citizen  may  thus  have  his 
apple  orchard  on  the  leads  of  his  house. 

The  English  Paradise  stock,  much  like  the  Doucin, 
and  those  above-mentioned  as  my  seedlings,  are  most 
deserving  of  our  attention  as  stocks  for  forming  fruit- 
ful pyramids,  the  culture  of  which  is  very  simple. 
Grafted  trees  of  one,  two,  or  three  years'  growth,  with 
straight  leading  stems,  well  furnished  with  buds  and 
branches  to  the  junction  with  the  stock,  should  be 
planted.  No  manure  should  be  placed  to  their  roots, 
but  some  light  friable  mould  should  be  shaken  into 
them,  the  earth  filled  in,  trodden  down,  and  two  or 
three  shovelfuls  of  hall-rotted  manure  laid  on  the  sur- 
face round  each  tree.  This  surface-dressing  may  be 
given  with  advantage  every  succeeding  autumn.  If 
the  soil  be  very  wet  and  retentive,  it  will  be  better  to 
plant  the  trees  in  small  mounds  ;  and  if  symptoms  of 
canker  make  their  appearance,  their  roots-  should  be 
examined  annually  in  the  autumn,  as  recommended 
in  root-pruning  of  pears  on  the  quince  stock,  introdu- 
cing the  spade  directly  under  the  roots,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent any  entering  deeply  into  the  soil,  and  bringing 
all  as  nearly  to  the  surface  as  possible,  filling  in  the 
trench  with  light  friable  compost ;  or  the  tree  may  be 
lifted  and  replanted,  which  will  be  found  more  effi- 
cient. I  firmly  believe  that  canker  may  be  entirely 
prevented  by  this  annual  attention  to  the  roots. 

If,  therefore,  the  soil  be  unfavorable,  and  apt  to  in- 
duce a  too  vigorous  growth  in  apple  trees,  followed  by 


64;  THE  MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDE*. 

canker,  the  roots  should  be  annually  root-pruned,  or 
the  trees  lifted — i.  e.,  taken  up  and  replanted.  If, 
however,  the  trees  make  shoots  of  only  moderate  vig- 
or, and  are  healthy  and  fruitful,  their  roots  may  remain 
undisturbed  ;  and  pinching  their  shoots  in  summer,  as 
directed  for  pyramidal  pears,  page  9,  and  training 
them  in  a  proper  direction,  is  all  that  they  will  want. 
Pyramids  on  the  Paradise  stock  may  be  planted  four 
feet  apart  in  confined  gardens;  five  feet  will  give  them 
abundance  of  room  ;  but  if,  owing  to  the  soil  being  of 
extra  fertility,  they  are  found  to  require  more,  the 
trees,  if  they  have  been  root-pruned,  may  be  removed 
almost  without  receiving  a  check,  even  if  they  are 
twenty  years  old.  This  is  a  great  comfort  to  the  ama- 
teur gardener,  who  amuses  himself  with  improving 
his  garden ;  for  how  often  does  a  favorite  fruit  tree, 
which  cannot  be  removed,  prevent  some  projected  im- 
provement ! 

Apples  differ  greatly  in  their  habits  of  growth ; 
some  are  inclined  to  grow  close  and  compact,  like  a 
cypress — these  are  the  proper  sorts  for  pyramids ; 
others,  horizontally  and  crooked — these  should  be 
grown  as  bushes ;  others,  again,  are  slender  and  thin 
in  their  growth,  so  that,  to  form  a  good  pyramid  of 
these  slender-growing  varieties,  it  is  necessary  to  be- 
gin the  first  year  with  a  young  tree,  and  to  pinch  the 
leader  as  soon  as  it  is  six  inches  long.  If  by  any  neg- 
lect the  lower  part  of  the  pyramid  be  not  furnished 
with  shoots,  but  have  dormant  buds,  or  buds  with 
only  two  or  three  leaves  attached,  a  notch  must  be  cut, 
about  half  an  inch  in  width,  just  above  the  bud  from 
which  a  shoot  is  required.  This  notch  must  be  cut 


PYRAMIDAL   APPLE  TREES.  65 

through  the  outer  and  inner  bark,  and  alburnum,  or 
first  layer  of  wood  ;  and  if  the  shoot  or  stem  be  young 
— say  from  two  to  four  inches  in  girth — it  may  be  cut 
round  half  its  circumference.  If  this  be  done  in  spring 
or  summer,  the  following  season  a  shoot  will  generally 
make  its  appearance ;  sometimes  even  the  first  season, 
if  the  stem  or  branch  be  notched  early  in  spring.  This 
method  of  producing  shoots  from  dormant  buds  may 
be  applied  with  advantage  to  all  kinds  of  fruit  trees, 
except  the  peach  and  nectarine,  which  are  not  often 
inclined  to  break  from  a  dormant  bud. 

Varieties  of  apples  inclined  to  be  compact  and  close 
in  their  growth  form  very  handsome  pyramids ;  but 
they  are  apt  to  be  unfruitful,  as  air  enough  is  not  ad- 
mitted to  the  interior  of  the  tree.  This  may  be  easily 
avoided,  by  bringing  the  lateral  shoots  down  to  a  hori- 
zontal position  for  a  year  or  two,  and  fastening  the 
end  of  each  shoot  to  a  stake ;  an  open  pyramidal  shape 
will  thus  be  attained,  which  the  tree  will  keep.  Other 
varieties  put  forth  their  laterals  horizontally,  and  some 
are  even  pendulous.  The  leading  perpendicular  shoot 
of  varieties  of  this  description  must  be  supported  by  a 
stake  till  the  tree  is  of  mature  age.  Iron  rods,  about 
the  size  of  small  curtain-rods,  are  the  most  eligible : 
these,  if  painted  with  coal-tar  and  lime,  sifted  and 
mixed  with  it  to  the  consistence  of  very  thick  paint, 
put  on  boiling  hot,  will  last  a  great  many  years. 

Apple  trees  in  confined  gardens  near  large  towns 
are  often  infested  with  "American  blight,"  aphis 
lanigera  :  this  makes  its  appearance  on  the  trees  gen- 
erally towards  the  middle  of  summer,  like  patches  of 
cotton  wool.  There  are  many  remedies  given  for 


66  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDES'. 

this  pest;  the  most  efficacious  I  have  jet  found  is  soft 
soap  dissolved  in  soft  water,  two  pounds  to  the  gallon, 
or  the  Gishurst  Compound,  sold  by  Price's  Candle 
Company,  one  pound  to  the  gallon,  and  applied  with 
an  old  painter's  brush.  Many  remedies,  such  as  train 
oil,  spirits  of  tar,  &c.,  are  apt  to  injure  the  trees:  it 
must  be  recollected  that  soft  soap  will  turn  the  leaves 
brown — in  fact,  kill  them  ;  but  it  need  not  be  applied 
to  them,  as  the  aphis  generally  fixes  itself  on  the 
branches. 

Here  let  me  impress  upon  the  lover  of  his  garden,  liv- 
ing anywhere  within  reach  of  smoke,  the  necessity  of 
using  the  syringe :  its  efficacy  is  not  half  appreciated 
by  gardening  amateurs.  As  soon  as  the  leaves  of  his 
fruit  trees  are  fully  expanded,  every  morning  and 
every  evening,  in  dry  weather,  should  the  attentive 
gardener  dash  on  the  water  with  an  unsparing  hand — 
not  with  a  plaything,  but  with  the  perforated  common 
syringe,  such  as  a  practical  gardener  would  use,  capa- 
ble of  pouring  a  sharp  stream  on  the  plant,  and  of 
dislodging  all  the  dust  or  soot  that  may  have  accumu- 
lated in  twelve  hours.  For  apple  and  pear  trees  in 
pots,  or  in  small  city  gardens,  this  syringing  is  abso- 
lutely necessary. 

Pinching  the  shoots  of  pyramidal  apple  trees,  and, 
indeed,  exactly  the  same  method  of  managing  the  trees 
as  given  for  pyramidal  pears  on  the  quince  stock,  may 
be  followed  with  a  certainty  of  success;  and  the  pro- 
prietor of  a  very  small  garden  may  thus  raise  apple 
trees  which  will  be  sure  to  give  him  much  gratifica- 
tion. To  have  fine  fruit,  the  clusters  should  be  thinned 
in  June  ;  and  small  trees  should  not  be  overburdened, 


APPLES   AS  BUSHES   ON   THE   PARADISE   STOCK. 


for  they  are  often  inclined,  like  young  pear  trees  on 
the  quince  stock,  to  bear  too  many  fruit  when  in  a 
very  young  state ;  the  constitution  of  the  tree  then 
receives  a  shock  which  it  will  take  two  or  three  sea- 
sons to  recover.  For  varieties  with  large  fruit,  one 
on  each  fruit-bearing  spur  will  be  enough ;  if  a  small 
sort,  from  two  to  three  will  be  sufficient. 

There  are  so  many  really  good  apples  that  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  make  a  selection  :  the  following  sorts  will  not 
disappoint  the  planter ;  but  fifty  varieties  in  addition, 
quite  equal  in  quality,  could  be  selected. 

Twenty  dessert  apples,  ripening  from  July  to  June, 
placed  in  the  order  of  their  ripening  : — 


1.  White  Joanneting* 

2.  Early  Red  Margaret 

3.  lied  Astrachan 

4.  Early  Strawberry 

5.  Irish  Peach* 

6.  Summer  Golden  Pippin 

7.  Kerry  Pippin* 

8.  Margil 

9.  Kihston  Pippin* 

10.  Cox's  Orange  Pippin* 

Twenty  kitchen  apples, 
June : — 

1.  Keswiek  Codlin* 

2.  Large  Yellow  Bough 

3.  Hawthornden* 

4.  Cellini 

5.  King  of  the  Pippins 

6.  Blenheim  Pippin* 

7.  Calville  Blanche 

8.  New  Hawthornden 

9.  Striped  Beefing* 

10.  Waitham  Abbey  Seedling 


11.  Mannington's  Pearmain 

12.  Golden  Drop  (Coe's)* 

13.  Ash  mead's  Kernel* 

14.  Nonpareil,  Old 

1.5.  Reinette  Van  Mona* 

16.  Syke  House  Russet 

17.  Keddleston  Pippin 

18.  Golden  Harvey 

19.  Winter  Peach  Apple 

20.  Stunner  Pippin* 

fit  for  use  from  July  to 


11.  Herefordshire  Pearmain* 

12.  Winter  Pearmain 

13.  Bedfordshire  Foundling* 

14.  Greaves' s  Pippin 

15.  Durnelow's  Seedling* 

16.  Forge  Apple 

17.  liymer 

1£.  Baxters  Pearmain* 

19.  St.  Sativeur* 

20.  Gooseberry  Apple* 


APPLES    AS   BUSHES    ON   THE   PAKADISE    STOCK. 

There  are  some  varieties  of  apples  that  do  not  form, 
even  with  care,  well-shaped  pyramids  ;  such  sorts  may 
be  cultivated  as  bushes  when  grafted  on  the  Paradise 


68  THE   MIXIATURE   FRUIT   GAEOEX. 

stock,  and  are  then  excellently  well  adapted  for  small 
gardens.  I  have,  indeed,  reason  to  think  that  a  great 
change  may  be  brought  about  in  suburban  fruit  cul- 
ture by  these  bush  trees.  -I  have  shown,  ia  pp.  17 
and  18,  how  bush  pears  on  quince  stocks  may  be  cul- 
tivated. Pears  are,  however,  a  luxury :  apples  and 
plums  are  necessaries  to  the  families  of  countless 
thousands  living  near  London.  Apple  bushes,  always 
very  pretty  and  productive  trees^  may  be  planted 
three  feet  apart,  row  from  row,  and  three  feet  apart 
in  the  rows.  If  two  or  three  years  old  when  planted, 
they  wTill  begin  to  bear  even  the  first  season  after 
planting.  They  should  be  kept  from  the  attacks  of 
the  green  aphis  in  summer  by  dressing  the  young 
shoots  with  the  quassia  mixture,  given  in  a  note  to  p. 
89,  and  from  the  woolly  aphis  by  Gishurst  compound 
mentioned  in  page  66.  The  principal  feature  in  this 
culture  is  summer  pinching,  which  must  be  regularly 
attended  to,  from  early  in  June  till  the  end  of  August : 
this  is  done  by  pinching  or  cutting  off  the  end  of 
every  shoot  as  soon  as  it  has  made  five  or  six  leaves, 
leaving  from  three  to  four  full-sized  ones.  Some 
varieties  of  the  apple  have  their  leaves  very  thickly 
placed  on  the  shoots ;  with  them  it  is  better  not  to 
count  the  leaves,  but  to  leave  the  shoots  from  three 
and  a  half  to  four  inches  in  length.  If  the  soil  be 
rich,  and  the  trees  inclined  to  grow  too  vigorously, 
they  may  be  removed  biennially,  as  recommended  for 
bush  pears,  by  digging  a  circular  trench  one  foot  from 
the  stem  of  the  tree,  and  then  introducing  the  spade 
under  its  roots,  heaving  it  up  so  as  to  detach  them  all 
from  the  soil,  and  then  filling  in  the  earth  dug  from. 


APPLES  AS  BUSHES  FOR  MABKET   GARDENS.       69 

the  trench  and  treading  it  gently  on  to  the  roots. 
The  following  sorts  are  well  adapted  for  this  bush 
culture,  but  the  upright  varieties  recommended  for 
pyramids  form  nice  compact  bushes.1 

Brabant  Bellefleur,  kitchen April 

Cornish  Aromatic,  dessert May 

Early  Harvest,  dessert August 

Emperor  Alexander,  kitchen October 

Gravenstein,  kitchen  or  dessert November 

__      ,.         ,  (  August  to 

Hawthornden,  kitchen I  „ 

I  November 

Joanneting  (white),  dessert July 

Melon  Apple,  dessert February 

Mere  de.  Menage,  kitchen December 

Nonesuch,  kitchen  October 

Pom  me  Koyale,  kitchen  or  dessert April 

Reinette  du  Canada,  kitchen  or  dessert May 

Eibston  Pippin,  dessert December 

South  Carolina  Pippin,  kitchen December 

Spring  liibston  Pippin,  dessert Miiy 

Victoria,  dessert April 

Walthara  Abbey  Seedling,  kitchen December 

There  is  no  mode  of  apple  culture  more  interesting 
than  bush  culture.  On  the  next  page  I  annex  a 
sketch  of  a  plantation  of  Cox's  Orange  Pippin  (Fig. 
12),  of  one  hundred  trees ;  they  were  planted  in  the 
spring  of  1862.  They  bore  a  fine  crop  in  1863  of 
most  beautiful  fruit,  and  in  1864:  gave  a  crop  almost 
too  abundant. 

APPLES   AS   BUSHES   FOB   MARKET    GARDENS. 

Our  market  gardeners,  as  a  rule,  are  very  deficient 
in  their  knowledge  of  fruit-tree  culture,  and  they  have 
much  to  learn.  The  usual  practice  with  them  is  to 
plant  standard  or  half  standard  trees  in  rows,  some 
twenty  or  thirty  feet  apart,  and  between  them  goos'e- 

1  These  dwarf  bushes  are  liable  to  be  gnawed  by  rabbits  and  hares  in  exposed 
gardens.  The  best  of  all  preventives  is  to  paint  them  with  soot  and  milk,  well 
mixed;  or  make  a  fence  with  galvanized  wire  netting,  round  the  garden  in  which 
they  are  planted. 


70 


THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 


berry  and  currant  trees.  The  ground  is  dug  between 
the  trees  in  spring  deeply,  and  often  carelessly.  ^No- 
thing can  be  more  barbarous,  for  the  ground  is  so 


shaded  that  no  surface  roots  can  have  the  benefit  ot 
air  and  the  heat  of  the  sun  ;  and  if  by  any  chance 
they  could  come  to  the  surface,  they  are,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  destroyed  by  the  spade.  It  is  true  that  in 


APPLES  AS  BUSHES  FOR   MARKET   GARDENS.       71 

some  of  the  rich  market  gardens  near  London  large 
quantities  of  fruit  are  grown  in  spite  of  the  uncouth 
treatment  the  trees  receive,  but  this  does  not  alter  the 
case. 

In  a  well-ordered  fruit  garden,  every  kind  of  fruit 
should  have  its  department,  and  instead  of  seeing,  as 
in  Kent,  a  row  of  trees  of  all  sorts,  mixed  in  the  most 
heterogeneous  manner,  no  mixture  of  species  should 
be  allowed ;  every  kind  should  have  its  allotment — 
apples  on  the  Paradise  stock,  ditto  on  the  crab  stock, 
pears  on  the  quince  stock,  the  same  on  the  pear  stock. 
Morello  cherries  as  pyramids  on  the  Mahaleb  stock — 
the  best  of  all  methods  for  their  culture — and  the 
various  kinds  of  Duke  cherries  on  the  same  kind  of 
stock.  Heart  and  Bigarreau  cherries  on  the  common 
cherry  stock,  plums  as  bushes,  pyramids,  or  half  stand- 
ards, should  all  be  separated,  and  not  planted  hig- 
gledy-piggledy, as  they  have  been  and  are  now.  The 
sound-headed  market  gardener  will,  when  his  mind  is 
turned  to  improved  fruit-tree  culture,  see  all  this,  and 
make  his  fruit  garden  a  pattern  of  order. 

I  have  been  led  into  these  remarks  on  market  gar- 
den fruit-tree  culture  by  my  own  experience,  and  es- 
pecially into  a  consideration  of  the  great  improvement 
that  may  be  made  in  the  culture  of  apples  on  the 
English  Paradise  stock.  On  referring  to  p.  69,  the 
reader  will  find  that  I  allude  to  my  plantation  of 
Cox's  Orange  Pippin  apple  trees  on  the  Paradise 
stock  (see  Fig.  12) ;  these  trees  will  this  season  (1864), 
the  third  of  their  growth  in  their  present  quarters, 
and  the  fourth  of  their  age,  give  an  average  of  a 

quarter  of  a  peck  from  each  tree,  so  that  we  might 
4* 


72  THE  MINIATURE   FRUIT  •  GARDEN. 

have  from  4,840  trees,  growing  on  one  acre  of  ground, 
302  bushels  of  fine  apples,  worth  5s.  per  bushel,  or 
£75.  In  1866,  the  trees  then  averaging  half-a-peek 
each,  would  double  this  sum,  and  make  an  acre  of 
apple  trees  a  very  agreeable  and  eligible  investment. 
The  kinds  likely  to  sell  best  in  the  markets,  and 
which  are  most  productive,  are  the  following : — Cox's 
Orange  Pippin,  Reinette  Van  Mons,  Eibston  Pippin, 
Sturmer  Pippin,  Scarlet  Nonpareil,  and  Dutch  Mi- 
gnonne  ;  these  are  dessert  apples.  The  following  are 
valuable  kitchen  apples,  and  abundant  bearers  : — 
Hawthornden,  New  Hawthornden,  Small's  Admi- 
rable, Cox's  Pomona,  Keswick  Codlin,  Dumelow's 
Seedling,  Lord  Suffield,  Norfolk  Bearer,  Duchess  of 
Oldenburg,  and  Forge  Apple.  Such  large  varieties 
as  Bedfordshire  Foundling,  Blenheim  Orange,  and 
Warner's  King,  should  have  more  space,  and  be 
planted  four  feet  apart,  and  be  thinned  out  by  remo- 
val, as  recommended  for  pear  trees,  three  feet  apart, 
for  which  see  p.  54:.  The  proper  method  of  planting 
and  managing  these  bush  apple  trees  is  exactly  that 
recommended  for  bush  pear  trees  on  quince  stocks. 

It  may  be  by  some  made  a  question  of  expense,  for 
although  the  return  must  be  large  and  profitable,  the 
purchase  of  nearly  5,000  apple  trees  would  involve  a 
large  outlay.  To  this  I  reply — first,  that  stocks  cost- 
ing only  a  small  sum  per  1,000  may  be  planted  and 
grafted  where  the  trees  are  to  grow  permanently; 
and,  second,  that  a  large  demand  which  my  method 
of  planting  would  create  will  also  create  a  cheap  sup- 
ply. The  preparation  of  an  acre  of  ground  should  be 
as  follows : — It  should  previous  to  planting,  be  forked 


APPLES  AS  BUSHES  FOR 'MARKET   GARDENS.       ?3 

over  to  a  depth  of  twenty  inches  (if  very  poor  and  ex- 
hausted, from  thirty  to  forty  tons  of  manure  may  be 
forked  in) — not  more,  as  trees  such  as  I  have  recom- 
mended, viz.,  pears  on  the  quince  stock  and  apples  on 
the  English.  Paradise  stock,  do  not  root  deeply — this 
ought  to  cost  £6  13s.  4d.  The  annual  expenses  are 
forking  the  surface  in  spring,  £1  6s.  8d.,  and  hoeing 
the  ground,  say  four  times  during  the  summer,  £1 4s. 
I  give  the  amounts  paid  here  for  such  work.  Then 
comes  the  summer  pinching  of  the  shoots  by  a  light- 
fingered  active  youth,  and  this  may,  at  a  guess,  be  put 
down  at  £1,  making  the  aggregate  annual  expenses 
£3  10s,  8d.,  or,  say  £4  per  acre.  The  large  return 
will  amply  afford  this  outlay,  even  adding,  as  we 
ought  to  do,  the  interest  on  capital,  and  rent. 

It  will  be  seen  that  what  I  propose  is  in  reality  a 
Nursery  Orchard  which  may  be  made  to  furnish  fruit 
and  trees  for  a  considerable  number  of  years.  To 
fully  comprehend  this,  we  must  suppose  a  rood  of 
ground  planted,  as  I  have  described,  with  1,210  bush 
apple  trees.  In  the  course  of  eight  or  ten  years,  half 
of  these,  or  605,  may  be  removed  to  a  fresh  planta- 
tion, in  which  they  may  be  planted  6  feet  apart ;  they 
will  at  once  occupy  half  an  acre  of  ground.  At  the 
end  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  years,  every  alternate  row 
of  trees  in  the  first  plantation — the  rood — will  require 
to  be  removed,  which  will  give  302  trees  to  be 
planted,  6  feet  apart,  leaving  303  in  the  original 
rood.  The  1,210  trees  will,  by  this  time,  occupy  one 
acre  of  ground  at  6  feet  apart.  "With  proper  summer 
pruning  or  pinching,  they  will  not  require  any  further 
change,  but  continue  to  grow  and  bear  fruit  as  long 


74  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GA11DKN". 

as  they  are  properly  cultivated.  The  great  advantage 
reaped  by  the  planter  is  the  constant  productiveness 
of  his  trees;  from  the  second  year  after  planting  they 
will  be  always  "  paying  their  way." 

The  unprejudiced  fruit  cultivator  will  quickly  find 
out  the  great  advantage  of  my  mode  of  apple  and 
pear  cultivation. 

In  the  usual  old-fashioned  mode,  Standard  apple 
trees  are  planted  in  orchards  at  20  feet  apart,  or  108 
trees  to  the  acre ;  if  the  soil  be  good  and  the  trees 
properly  planted,  and  the  planter  a  healthy,  middle- 
aged  man,  he  may  hope,  at  the  end  of  his  threescore 
and  ten,  to  see  his  trees  commencing  to  bear,  and  may 
die  with  the  reflection  that  he  has  left  a  valuable 
orchard  as  a  legacy  to  his  children,  but  has  not  had 
much  enjoyment  of  it  during  his  life.  Now,  although, 
like  most  fathers,  I  have  a  strong  wish  to  benefit  my 
children,  I  hold  the  idea  that  one  ought  also  to  think 
of  one's  own  gratification  ;  and  so  I  have  planted,  and 
recommend  the  planting  of  such  as  will  give  me  some 
satisfaction,  yet  leave  a  fertile  legacy  to  my  chil- 
dren. 

A  French  pomologist,  who  paid  me  a  visit  last 
year,  said,  "  Ah  !  now  I  find  an  Englishman  planting 
for  himself  as  well  as  for  his  children  :"  and  went  on 
to  say  that  he  was  struck  by  seeing  in  England  so 
many  Standard  trees  in  market  gardens,  the  planters 
of  which  could  have  derived  but  small  benefit  from 
them  ;  and  the  apparent  ignorance  of  fruit  gardening 
as  a  lucrative  occupation.  This  he,  in  fact,  imputed 
to  our  climate,  which,  Frenchman-like,  he  thought 
totally  unfit  for  fruit  culture  in  the  open  air,  yet  felt 


APPLES  AS  SINGLE   LATERAL   CORDONS.  75 

much  surprised  to  see  here  the  produce  of  a  well-cul- 
tivated English  fruit  garden,  in  a  climate  not  nearly 
so  favorable  as  the  valley  of  the  Thames. 

I  have  only  to  add  that,  besides  my  plantation  of 
Cox's  Orange  Pippin,  I  have  another  of  upwards  of 
400  trees,  which  has  now  been  in  existence  upwards 
of  ten  years,  so  that  I  am  not  theorizing,  but  dedu- 
cing facts  from  a  sound  basis. 

APPLES    AS    SINGLE    LATERAL    CORDONS. 

The  French  gardeners  often  train  an  apple  tree  "  en 
cordon  horizontale,"  as  an  edging  to  the  borders  in 
their  kitchen  gardens,  after  the  following  mode: — A 


FIG.  13. 

tree  grafted  on  the  Paradise  or  Doucin  stock,  with  a 
single  shoot,  is  planted  in  a  sloping  position,  and  the 
shoot  trained  along  a  wire,  about  ten  or  twelve  inches 
from  the  surface.  (Fig.  13.) 

To  carry  out  this  method  of  training,  oak  posts, 
about  three  inches  in  diameter  and  two  feet  in  length, 
should  be  sharpened  at  one  end  and  driven  into  the 
ground,  so  that  they  stand  one  foot  above  the  surface ; 
they  may  be  from  thirty  to  forty  yards  distant  from 
each  other. 

From  these  a  piece  of  galvanized  or  common  iron 
wire — if  the  latter,  it  should  be  painted — about  the 
thickness  of  whipcord,  should  be  strained,  and  sup- 
ported nine  inches  from  the  ground,  at  intervals  of  six 


76  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

feet,  by  iron  pins  eighteen  inches  long,  the  size  of  a 
small  curtain-rod,  or  smaller,  flattened  at  the  top  and 
pierced  with  a  hole,  to  allow  the  wire  to  pass  through ; 
these  should  be  stuck  into  the  ground,  so  as  to  stand 
on  a  level  with  the  straining-posts.  The  trees  should 
be  planted  six  feet  apart,  and  when  the  top  of  one  tree 
reaches  to  another  the  young  shoot  may  be  grafted  on  to 
the  base  of  the  next,  so  as  to  form  a  continuous  cordon. 
This  is  best  done  by  merely  taking  off  a  slip  of  bark, 
two  inches  long,  from  the  under  part  of  the  young  shoot, 
and  a  corresponding  piece  of  bark  from  the  upper  part 
of  the  stem  of  the  tree  to  which  it  is  to  be  united,  so 
that  they  fit  tolerably  well.  They  should  then  be 
firmly  bound  with  bast,  and  a  bunch  of  moss — a 
handful — as  firmly  bound  over  the  union  ;  the  binding 
as  well  as  the  moss  may  remain  on  till  the  autumn. 
The  trees  do  not  grow  so  rapidly  as  common  grafts, 
so  that  the  ligatures  will  not  cut  into  the  bark. 

Every  side  shoot  of  these  cordons  should  be  rigor- 
ously pinched  into  three  leaves  all  the  summer,  and 
the  fruit,  from  being  near  the  earth,  and  thus  profit- 
ing largely  by  radiation,  will  be  very  fine. 

The  double  lateral  cordon,  see  Fig.  14,  which  is  a 
great  improvement  on  the  French  single  cordon, 
requires  the  same  training,  pinehing-in,  and  manage- 
ment. 

The  great  change  in  fruit  culture  that  may  be 
brought  about  by  training  these  double  lateral  cordons 
under  glass  ridges  is  obvious  enough.  The  figure  (15) 
will  give  some  faint  idea  of  the  advantages  of  this  new 
system  of  culture — they  are  endless ;  for  not  only  can 
peaches,  nectarines,  apricots,  plums,  apples,  and  pears 


APPLES  AS  DOUBLE  LATERAL  CORDONS. 


be  rescued  from  spring  frosts,  but  their  fruit  be  ripeii- 
ed  in  great  perfection.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that 
in  some  of  our  cold  and  cloudy  places 
in  the  north  of  England  arid  Scotland? 
where  even  the  Eibston  Pippin  will 
not  ripen,  it  may  be  brought  to  perfec- 
tion under  the  glass  fruit  ridge. 

The  figure  (Fig.  15)  gives  but  one 
tree  trained  to  one  wire ;  two  rows  of 
wire  may,  however,  be  trained  under 
one  ridge,  which  should  be  three  feet 
wide  at  base,  and  the  wires  ten  inches 
asunder.  It  is  quite  possible  that  this 
method  of  training  to  galvanized  wires 
may,  in  some  situations,  be  better 
adapted  to  vine  culture  than  allowing 
the  vines  to  rest  on  slates  or  tiles. 

I  now,  by  permission,  copy  the  de- 
scription of  my  new  glass  fruit  ridge 
from  my  article  in  the  Gardeners 
Chronicle  for  April  8, 1865,  from  which 
I  have  also  derived  the  plate  kindly 
lent  to  me  : — 

"  There  are  no  cross-bars,  but  merely 
a  frame  three  feet  wide  at  the  base. 
On  the  top  bar,  a,  is  a  groove  half 
an  inch  deep ;  in  the  bottom  bar,  J,  is  a  groove  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  deep  ;'  in  the  end  bars,  c  and  rf,  are 
grooves  half  an  inch  deep.  The  pieces  of  glass,  which 
should  be  cut  so  as  to  fit,  are  pushed  into  the  upper 
groove,  and  let  fall  into  the  lower  one  when  all  are 

1  An  improvement  on  this  is  to  have  a  rebate  at  bottom  instead  of  a  groove ;  the 
glass  is  more  easily  fitted  in. 


78 


THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 


fitted  in  ;  the  two  end  pieces  are  pushed  inwards,  so 
as  to  drive  all  of  them  into  close 
contact.  A  little  putty  is  required 
at  the  bottom  to  prevent  water 
lodging,  and  some  at  each  end  to 
keep  the  pieces  from  moving  lat- 
erally, e,  e,  are  the  straining-posts 
of  oak,  four  inches  square  ;  /",  the 
upright  pieces  of  wire  stuck  in  the 
ground,  flattened  and  perforated 
at  top  to  pass  the  wire  through  and 
support  it ;  </,  the  wire." 

Such,  then,  is  the  description  of 
the  new  barless  fruit  ridge — the 
invention  of  my  son — which  I 
think  calculated  to  have  a  greater 
effect  on  domestic  gardening,  and 
contribute  more  to  the  refinement 
and  comfort  of  a  very  large  class 
of  people,  than  all  the  crystal  pal- 
aces ever  invented.  I  feel  that  I 
ought  to  add  how  and  where  these 
nice  things  are  to  be  bought. 

Mr.  James  Eivett,  builder,  of 
Stratford,  Essex,  makes  and  sells 
them  at  5s.  6d.  or  6s.  each,  un- 
glazed.  Those  who  would  wish 
to  have  a  large  number,  and  who 
live  at  a  long  distance  from  Lon- 
don, should  have  a  few  from  Mr. 
FIG.  is.  Eivett  as  samples ;  they  could  then 

I  e  imitated  by  any  good  laborer. 


VERTICAL  CORDOX  APPLE  TREES.       79 

For  ventilation  and  other  particulars,  I  refer  my 
readers  to  the  description  of  the  ground  vinery,  pp. 
121  to  127  ;  and  for  the  method  of  placing  the  wires, 
to  p.  75. 

I  must  caution  those  who  wish  to  grow  fruit  under 
glass  fruit  ridges,  in  small  confined  gardens,  to  be  care- 
ful as  to  ventilation.  A  single  row  of  bricks,  with 
interstices  of  four  inches,  will  not  be  enough ;  there 
should  be  two  rows  of  bricks,  one  over  the  other,  and 
consequently  two  rows  of  interstices.  Peach,  necta- 
rine, and  apricot  trees  should  be  planted  fourteen  feet 
apart ;  but  they  grow  rapidly,  and  would  probably 
soon  require  removing. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  to  commence  fruit  ridge  cul- 
ture, four  seven-feet  lengths  should  be  prepared,  and  in 
the  centre  of  the  twenty-eight  feet  occupied  by  the  ridge 
two  peach  or  nectarine  trees  may  be  planted.  They 
will  soon  form  lateral  cordons  of  great  fertility,  and 
give  constant  employment  in  pinching  to  the  amateur. 
I  must  not  omit  to  state  the  great  advantage  this  mode 
of  fruit  culture  gives  as  to  protection  from  spring  frosts 
when  the  trees  are  in  bloom,  or  when  the  fruit  is  young. 
Espaliers,  pyramids,  and  wall  trees  are  difficult  to  pro- 
tect, but  mats  two  or  three  thick  can  be  piled  on  the 
ridge  with  great  facility,  and  loose  straw  or  hay,  the 
best  protectors  possible  from  frost,  can  be  strewed  over 
them  thickly. 

VERTICAL  COEDON  APPLE  TKEES. 

In  pp.  42  and  43  will  be  found  the  method  of  train- 
ing vertical  cordon  pear  trees.  This  may  be  applied 
to  apples  on  the  English  Paradise  stock  with  great 


80  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN". 

success,  and  very  charming  fruitful  trees  they  make. 
They  should  not  be  allowed  to  grow  above  seven  feet 
in  height,  to  which  they  will  reach  in  the  course  of 
four  or  five  years.  I  annex  a  figure  of  one  of  these 
trees,  three  years  old,  and  full  of  fruit.  (Fig.  16.) 

PYRAMIDAL   APPLES  ON  THE  CRAB    STOCK. 

In  soils  light  and  poor,  the  apple  on  the  Paradise 
stock  is,  unless  carefully  manured  on  the  surface,  apt 
to  become  stunted  and  unhealthy.  In 
such  soils,  and  also  in  those  of  a  very 
tenacious  nature,  pyramids  on  the  crab 
stock  may  be  planted  with  great  ad- 
vantage. They  are  also  well  adapted 
for  large  gardens  where  large  quanti- 
ties of  fruit  are  required,  as  the  trees 
may  be  made  to  form  handsome  pyra- 
mids, from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  inx 
height. 

There  is  one  thing  most  essential  to 
their  full  success  as  pyramids — they 
must  either  be  lifted  or  taken  up  bien- 
nially early  in  November,  and  replanted 
in  the  manner  recommended  for  bush 
pear  trees,  or  root-pruned  biennially, 
operating  upon  the  trees  alternately,  as 
mentioned  in  note  to  p.  12 ;  or  the  fol- 
lowing system  may  be  adopted  :  neither 
remove  nor  root-prune  any  tree  that  continues  to  grow 
with  moderation,  does  not  canker,  and  bears  well ; 
but  any  tree  that  makes  shoots  from  eighteen  inches 
to  three  feet  in  length,  remove  once  in  two,  three,  or 
four  years,  till  its  vigorous  habit  is  reduced. 


PYRAMIDAL  PLUM  TREES.  SI 

As  these  crab  stock  trees  grow  more  freely  than  the 
Paradise  stock  trees,  summer  pinching,  or  shortening 
the  young  shoots  with  a  penknife,  as  recommended  in 
p.  68,  must  be  attended  to,  and  then,  in  the  most  un- 
favorable apple  tree  soils,  healthy  and  most  prolific 
pyramids  may  be  formed.  Any  of  the  varieties  re- 
commended in  pp.  67  and  68  will  succeed  well  as 
pyramids  on  the  crab-stock. 

If  managed  in  this  manner,  fine  trees  may  be  formed, 
not  only  of  the  robust-growing  kinds,  but  even  of  the 
old  Nonpareil,  Golden  Pippin,  Golden  Eeinette, 
Hawthornden,  Ribston  Pippin,  and  several  others,  all 
more  or  less  inclined  to  canker.  I  have  a  row  of 
Nonpareils  and  Eibston  Pippins  planted  in  the  cold- 
est and  most  unfavorable  soil  I  could  find,  yet,  owing 
to  their  being  biennially  removed,  they  are  entirely 
free  from  canker. 

The  vigorous  growth  of  standard  apples,  when 
planted  in  orchards  in  the  usual  way,  is  well  known, 
and  also  their  tendency  to  canker  after  a  few  years  of 
luxuriant  growth.  Pyramids  on  the  crab,  without 
occasional  removal,  or  root-  pruning,  would,  in  like 
manner,  grow  most  freely,  and,  even  if  subjected  to 
summer  pinching,  would  soon  become  a  mass  of  en- 
tangled, barren,  cankered  shoots. 

PYRAMIDAL   PLUM   TKEES. 

The  plum,  if  planted  in  a  rich  garden  soil,  rapidly 
forms  a  pyramid  of  large  growth — it,  in  fact,  can 
scarcely  be  managed  by  summer  pinching.  It  be- 
comes crowded  with  young  shoots  and  leaves,  and  the 
shortening  of  its  strong  horizontal  branches  at  the  end 


82  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

of  summer  is  apt  to  bring  on  the  gum  ;  it  is  a  tree, 
however,  with  most  manageable  roots,  for  they  are 
always  near  the  surface.  I  must,  therefore,  again 
recommend  summer  pinching  to  three  leaves,  as  di- 
rected for  pears,  p.  8,  annual  root-pruning,  and  surface 
dressing,  in  preference  to  any  other  mode  of  culture. 
The  annual  root-pruning  of  the  plum  is  performed  as 
follows  : — Open  a  circular  trench  eighteen  inches  deep 
round  the  tree,  eighteen  inches  from  its  stem,  and  cut 
off  every  root  and  fibre  with  a  sharp  knife.  When  the 
roots  are  so  pruned,  introduce  a  spade  under  one  side 
of  the  tree,  and  heave  it  over  so  as  not  to  leave  a 
single  tap-root ;  fill  in  your  mould,  give  a  top  dressing 
of  manure,  and  it  is  finished.  The  diameter  of  your 
circular  trench  must  be  slowly  increased  as  years  roll 
on ;  for  you  must,  each  year,  prune  to  within  one  and 
a  half  or  two  inches  of  the  stumps  of  the  former  year. 
Your  circular  mass  of  fibrous  roots  will  thus  slowly 
increase,  your  tree  will  make  short  and  well-ripened 
shoots,  and  bear  abundantly.  From  very  recent  ex- 
perience, I  have  found  that  removing  trees  annually, 
if  the  soil  be  rich — biennially,  and  adding  some  rich 
compost,  if  it  be  poor — without  root-pruning,  will  keep 
plum  trees  in  a  healthy  and  fertile  state.  For  further 
particulars  on  this  head,  see  pp.  13  and  14. 

Pyramidal  plum  trees  are  most  beautiful  trees  both 
when  in  flower  and  fruit.  Their  rich  purple  and 
golden  crop  has  an  admirable  effect  on  a  well-managed 
pyramid.  No  stock  has  yet  been  found  to  cramp  the 
energies  of  the  plum  tree.  I  have,  however,  tried 
experiments  on  the  sloe,  which,  as  it  never  forms  a 
tree  of  any  bulk,  effects  this  object  to  a  certain  extent. 


PYRAMIDAL   PLUMS   TREES.  83 

My  trees  on  the  sloe  are  some  years  old,  and  are  dwarf 
and  prolific.  The  first  year  after  grafting  they  made 
vigorous  growth  ;  but  this  is  a  very  common  occur- 
rence with  stocks  that  ultimately  make  very  prolific 
trees  ;  it  is  so  with  the  pear  on  the  quince,  the  apple 
on  the  Paradise,  and  the  cherry  on  the  Mahaleb. 
The  greengage  seems  to  grow  more  freely  on  the  sloe 
than  any  other  sort.  I  have  three  fine  vigorous  bush- 
es, now  about  ten  years  old,  growing  in  the  white 
marly  clay,  with  chalk-stones,  peculiar  to  some  parts 
of  Essex  and  Hertfordshire.  The  sloe  seems  to  delight 
in  this  soil,  so  inimical  to  most  kinds  of  fruit  trees. 
My  greengage  plums  are  almost  vigorous  in  their 
growth ;  and  what  appears  strange  is,  that  the  stock 
seems  to  keep  pace  with  the  graft — there  is  scarcely 
any  swelling  at  the  junction.  The  roots  of  these  trees 
have  not  been  touched,  and  they  appear  to  have  gone 
deeply  into  the  solid  white  clay.  The  plum  on  the 
sloe  is  easily  arrested  in  its  growth  by  root-pruning. 
I  have  some  trees,  four  years  old,  not  more  than  eight- 
een inches  high,  and  yet  covered  with  blossom  buds.1 
These  have  been  only  once  root-pruned,  and  are  form- 
ing themselves  into  nice  compact  prolific  bushes.  As 
no  peculiar  culture,  or  disease,  requires  to  be  noticed, 
I  have  only  to  give  a  selection  cf  sorts  calculated  for 
pyramids.  These  are  also  well  adapted  for  walls  with 
W.,  1ST.  W.,  E.,  or  S.  E.  aspects. 

1  Since  this  \v;is  written,  I  have  found  plums  grafted  on  the  plum  stock  so 
easily  dwarfed  by  annual  or  biennial  removal,  that,  unless  in  hard  clayey  soils, 
found  to  be  unfavorable  to  the  plum,  there  is  no  occasion  to  employ"  the  sloe  stock, 
unless  as  an  experiment. 


84  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 


HARDY   DESSERT    PLUMS    ADAPTED    FOR    PYRAMIDS. 

In,  season  from  July  to  the  end  of  October.    Placed  in  the  order  of  their 
ripening. 


Early  Favorite* 
July  Green  Gage* 
De  Montfort 
Oullins's  Golden  Gage. 
Green  Gage* 
Jefferson* 


Kirke's* 

Transparent    Gage* 
Purple  Gage 
Guthrie's  Late  Green 
Reine  Claude  de  Bavay* 
Bryanstone  Gage 


HARDY    KITCHEN    PLUMS    ADxYPTED    FOR    PYRAMIDS. 

In  seaxon  from  July  till  the  end  of  October.    Placed  in  the  order  of  their 
ripening. 


Early  Prolific* 
Belgian  Purple* 
Pond's  Seedling 
Prince  Englebert 
Victoria  or  Alderton* 
Mitchelson'a 


Dove  Bank 
Diamond* 
Imperial  de  Milan 
Autumn  Compote* 
Late  Black  Orleans* 
Belle  de  Scptembre* 


PLUM   TRKES    AS   BUSHES. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  fruit  tree  so  easily  kept  within 
bounds  as  the  plum.  In  rich  soils  they  bear  annual 
removal  with  but  a  slight  check ;  but  in  most  soils 
biennial  removal  will  keep  them  in  a  perfectly  fruit- 
ful state  in  bush  culture.  This  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary ;  and  if  the  soil  be  poor,  some  thoroughly  rotted 
manure  (about  half  a  bushel  to  each  tree)  may  be 
mixed  with  the  soil  in  replanting.  As  with  pear  trees, 
the  best  season  for  lifting  or  removing  them  is  the 
end  of  October  or  beginning  of  November.  Plum 
bushes  have  the  advantage  of  being  easily  protected 
by  a  square  of  light  cheap  calico,  tiffany,  or  any  light 
material,  thrown  over  them  while  in  blossom,  and  a 
crop  of  fruit  thus  insured.  All  the  varieties  recom- 
mended for  pyramids  may  be  cultivated  as  bushes, 
and,  for  suburban  gardens,  they  should  be  subjected 
to  exactly  the  same  treatment  as  recommended  for 
apple  bushes,  p.  67. 


CHERRIES  ON  THE  MAHALEB.  85 

CHEERIES    AS    BUSHES    AND    PYRAMIDS    ON    THE    MAHALEB 
STOCK    (CERASUS    MAHALEB). 

This  stock  has  been  long  known  in  our  shrubberies 
as  the  "Perfumed  Cherry:"  its  wood  when  burned 
emits  a  most  agreeable  perfume.  In  France  it  is 
called  "  Bois  de  St.  Lucie,"  and  it  has  been  used  there 
for  dwarf  cherries  for  very  many  years ; — why  it  has 
not  been  employed  by  English  nurserymen,  I  cannot 
tell.  My  attention  was  called  to  it  in  France  some 
fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago,  since  which  I  have  used 
it  extensively,  annually  increasing'  my  culture.  Its 
great  recommendation  is,  that  cherries  grafted  on  it 
will  flourish  in  soils  unfavorable  to  them  on  the  com- 
mon cherry  stock,  such  as  strong  white  clay,  or  soils 
with  a  chalky  subsoil.  Although  the  trees  grow  most 
vigorously  the  first  two  or  three  seasons,  yet,  after 
that  period,  and  especially  if  root-pruned,  they  form 
dwarf  prolific  bushes,  so  as  easily  to  be  covered  with 
a  net,  or,  what  is  better,  with  muslin  or  tiffany,  which 
will  protect  the  blossoms  from  frost  in  spring,  and  the 
fruit  more  effectually  from  birds  and  wasps  in  sum- 
mer ;  thus  giving  us,  what  is  certainly  most  rare, 
cherries  fully  ripe,  and  prolonging  their  season  till  the 
end  of  September.  These  dwarf  bushes  may  be 
planted  from  five  to  six  feet  apart,  and  their  branches 
pruned  so  that  seven,  or  nine,  or  more,  come  out  from 
the  centre  of  the  plant,  like  a  well-managed  goose- 
berry bush.  These  branches  will,  in  May  or  June, 
put  forth,  as  in  the  horizontal  shoots  of  pyramidal 
pears,  several  shoots  at  their  extremities,  all  of  which 
must  be  pinched  off  to  three  leaves,  leaving  the  lead- 


86  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

ing  shoots  untouched  till  the  middle  or  end  of  August, 
when  they  must  be  shortened,  and  the  pruning  for 
the  year  is  finished. 

The  Morello  and  Duke  cherries — the  most  eligible 
for  this  bush  culture — may  have  their  leading  shoots 
shortened  to  eight  leaves.  If,  however,  the  space  be 
confined  in  which  they  are  planted,  this  length  may 
be  reduced,  for  by  biennial  root-pruning  the  trees  may 
be  kept  exceedingly  dwarf.  The  end  is  to  form  the 
tree  into  a  round  bush,  not  too  much  crowded  with 
shoots.  Towards  the  end  of  September,1  or,  in  fact, 
as  soon  as  the  autumnal  rains  have  sufficiently  pene- 
trated the  soil,  a  trench  may  be  dug  round  the  tree, 
exactly  the  same  as  recommended  for  root-pruning  of 
pears,  the  spade  introduced  under  the  tree  to  cut  all 
perpendicular  roots,  and  all  the  spreading  roots  short- 
ened with  the  knife,  and  brought  near  to  the  surface, 
previously  filling  in  the  trench  with  some  light  friable 
soil  for  them  to  rest  on,  and  spreading  them  regularly 
round  the  tree,  as  near  to  the  surface  as  possible  ;  then 
covering  them  with  the  soil  that  was  taken  out  of  the 
trench.  ~No  dung  or  manure  of  any  kind  is  required, 
as  this  stock  seems  to  flourish  in  the  poorest  soils. 
Some  short  litter,  or  half-decayed  leaves  will,  how- 
ever, be  of  much  benefit  placed  on  the  surface  round 
the  stem. 

I  have  thus  far  given  their  culture  for  small  gar- 
dens ;  but  those  who  have  more  space  may  dispense 
with  root-pruning,  and  allow  their  cherry  trees  to 
make  large  bushes,  which  may  be  planted  eight  feet 

1  This  early  autumnal  root-pruning  will  be  found  very  advantageous.  The 
flow  of  sap  is  checked,  so  that  the  shoots  are  well  ripened,  and  the  pruned  roots 
soon  emit  fresh  fibres  to  feed  the  tree  the  following  season. 


CHERRIES  AS   PYRAMIDS.  87 

apart,  and  pinched  regularly  in  the  summer,  and 
managed  as  directed  for  pear  trees  (p.  8).  The  lead- 
ing shoot  from  each  branch  in  such  cases  must  be  left 
longer,  and  shortened  to  twelve  or  more  buds. 

The  most  charming  of  all  pyramids  are  the  varie- 
ties of  the  Duke  and  Morello  cherries  on  the  Maha- 
leb ;  these  by  summer  pinching,  as  practised  for  pyra- 
midal pears,  become  in  two  or  three  years  the  most 
delightful  fruit  trees  ever  seen,  for  in  spring  they  are 
perfect  nosegays  of  flowers,  and  in  summer  clusters 
of  fruit — if  spared  by  spring  frosts. 

The  common  Morello  cherry  on  the  Mahaleb  stock, 
cultivated  as  a  pyramid,  forms  one  of  the  most  pro- 
lific of  trees ;  but  as  birds  carry  off  the  fruit  when 
only  half  ripe,  each  pyramid  should  have  a  bag  of 
tiffany  placsd  over  it,  and  tied  round  the  stem  of  the 
tree  at  bottom.  Any  garden,  however  small,  may 
grow  enough  of  this  useful  sort  by  planting  a  few 
pyramids,  lifting  and  replanting,  or  root-pruning 
them  biennially,  and  pinching  in  every  shoot  to  three 
leaves  (as  soon  as  it  has  made  five)  all  the  summer. 
The  Kentish  cherry,  also  a  most  useful  culinary  sort, 
may  be  cultivated  as  a  pyramid  with  great  success. 
A  French  variety  grown  near  Paris,  in  large  quanti- 
ties, and  known  as  the  "  Cerise  Aigre  Hative,"  which 
may  be  Englished  by  calling  it  the  Early  Sour  Cherry, 
is  a  useful  kind  for  the  kitchen.  In  going  from  Paris 
a  year  or  two  ago  to  Versailles  by  the  "  Rive  Droite  " 
Railway,  I  was  much  struck  by  seeing  in  the  market 
gardens  between  Suresnes  and  Puteaux,  on  the  left, 
large  plots  of  dwarf  trees,  about  the  size  of  large 
gooseberry  bushes,  and  some  very  low  trees,  all  cov- 


88  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

ered  (as  they  appeared  to  me  from  the  railway  car- 
riage) with  bright  red  flowers.  I  learned,  on  inquiry, 
that  these  were  cherry  bushes — literally  masses  of 
fruit,  of  the  above  variety.  I  find,  however,  that  it 
is  not  equal  to  the  Kentish  in  flavor  or  size  in  Eng- 
land. 

I  need  scarcely  add,  that  the  culture  of  all  the 
Duke  tribe  of  cherries  by  closely  pinched-in  pyramids, 
biennially  removed,  or  biennially  root-pruned,  is  most 
satisfactory.  It  is,  perhaps,  more  easily  performed 
than  root-pruning,  and  the  trees  soon  form  perfect 
pictures.  As  far  as  my  experience  has  gone,  cherries 
on  the  Mahal eb  are  much  more  fruitful  when  "  oft 
removed  ;"  the  most  eligible  mode  is  to  remove  only 
half  the  trees  in  one  season,  and  the  remainder  the 
following  season.  I  have  seen  nothing  in  fruit-tree 
culture  more  interesting  than  handsome  compact 
pyramids  of  such  sorts  of  cherries  as  the  May  Duke, 
Duchesse  de  Palluau,  Empress  Eugenie,  and  Arch- 
duke. One  feels  surprise  to  find  that  as  yet  but  few 
lovers  of  gardening  know  of  the  existence  of  such 
trees. 

It  will  much  facilitate  the  operation  on  their  roots, 
if  the  trees  be  planted  on  small  mounds. 

In  forming  plantations  of  pyramidal  and  dwarf 
cherries  on  the  Mahaleb  stock,  it  is  necessary  to 
arrange  them  with  a  little  care.  The  two  groups, 
those  of  the  habit  of  the  Morello  tribe,  and  those  of 
the  compact  habit  of  the  May  Duke,  should  be  planted 
in  separate  rows.  Bigarreau  and  Heart  cherries  are 
too  short-lived,  when  grafted  on  this  stock,  in  most 
descriptions  of  soils,  to  be  recommended. 


CHERRIES  AS  PYRAMIDS.  89 

The  following  arrangement  will  assist  the  planter : — 


SECTION  I.— THE  MAY  DUKE  TRIBE. 


Arch  Duke* 
May  Duke* 
Royal  Duke* 
Jeffrey's  Duke 


Belle  de  Choisy 
Nouvelle  Eoyale 
Empress  Eugenie 
Duchesse  de  Palluau 


SECTION  II.— THE  MORELLO  TRIBE. 


Carnation  (Coe's  Late)* 
Kentish 
Late  Duke* 
Griotte  de  Chaux* 


Morello* 
Heine  Hortense* 
Belle  Magnifique 
Planchoury 


Cherries  planted  on  the  Cerasus  Mahaleb  are  emi- 
nently adapted  for  espaliers,  or  for  walls,  as  they 
occupy  less  space,  and  are  much  more  fertile.  They 
may  be  planted  twelve  feet  apart,  whereas  espaliers 
on  the  cherry  stock  require  to  be  planted  eighteen  or 
twenty  feet  apart.  For  potting,  for  forcing,  cherries 
on  this  stock  are  highly  eligible,  as  they  are  very  pro- 
lific.1 

CHERRIES    ON   VERTICAL   CORDONS. 

The  varieties  best  adapted  for  this  very  interesting 
mode  of  culture  are  those  of  the  Duke  tribe,  such  as 
the  May  Duke,  Arch  Duke,  Empress  Eugenie,  Royal 
Duke,  Nouvelle  Eoyale,  Duchesse  de  Palluau,  and 
some  others.  They  require  the  same  summer  pinch- 
ing as  that  recommended  for  vertical  cordon  pears,  p. 
42.  Nothing  can  be  more  charming  than  these  cor- 
don cherry  trees.  I  have  at  this  moment  trees  only 
two  years  old,  of  the  Duke  tribe,  with  their  bright 
ripe  fruit  hanging  close  to  the  stem,  and  shining 
through  the  net  that  protects  them  from  the  birds. 

1  Cherry  trees  are  often  infested  in  summer  with  the  black  aphis.  The  best 
remedy  ia  a  mixture  made  by  boiling  four  ounces  of  quassia  chips  in  a  gallon  of 
soft  water  ten  minutes,  and  dissolving  in  it  as  it  cools  four  ounces  of  soft  soap.  It 
should  be  stirred,  and  the  trees  syringed  with  it  twice  or  thrice.  The  day  follow- 
ing, they  should  be  syringed  with  pure  water. 


90 


THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

A.  PYKAMIDAL  MORELtO  CHERRY  TREE, 
From  a  Photograph,  August,  1862. 


FIG.  17. 


CHERRIES  AS   PYRAMIDS.  91 

The  best  of  all  protection,  both  from  birds  and  wasps, 
is,  however,  Hay  thorn's  netting,  or  coarse  muslin, 
formed  into  a  narrow  bag,  which  should  be  let  down 
gently  over  the  tree,  and  tied  at  the  bottom ;  Duke 
cherries  may  thus  be  preserved  till  August.  I  may 
mention  here,  that  with  all  these  cordon  trees,  root- 
pruning  or  removal  is  seldom  required,  their  vital 
force  is  so  reduced  by  continuous  pinching  of  the 
young  shoots  ;  but  if  a  rich  soil  gives  too  much  vigor, 
it  may  be  practised.  There  are  a  few  kinds  of  plums, 
of  upright  growth,  which  may  also  be  cultivated  as 
vertical  cordons. 

The  Bigarreau  and  Heart,  or  Guigne  cherries,  are 
too  vigorous  for  this  mode  of  culture  when  grafted  or 
budded,  as  they  generally  are,  on  the  common  cherry 
stock.  The  new  mode  of  culture  by  double  grafting, 
i.  £.,  by  grafting  them  on  young  trees  of  the  common 
Morello  cherry  that  have  been  grafted  on  the  Mahaleb, 
will  make  them  most  prolific  cordons.  (See  p.  102.) 

I  must  add  a  piece  of  very  necessary  advice :  all 
cordon  trees,  whether  pears,  apples,  cherries,  or  plums, 
should  be  supported  by  a  slight  iron  rod,  about  the 
size  of  a  goose-quill,  which  should  be  painted ;  this 
should  stand  six  to  seven  feet  above  the  surface,  and 
be  inserted  ten  to  twelve  inches  in  the  ground,  and 
the  tree  attached  loosely  to  it  by  two  or  three  ligatures 
of  copper  wire. 

BIGARREAU    AND    HEART  CHERRIES  AS  PYRAMIDS    ON    THE 
COMMON    CHERRY    STOCK. 

Among  the  mysteries  of  vegetable  physiology,  there 
is  nothing,  perhaps,  more  interesting  than  the  facts 


92  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GAKDEN. 

discovered  by  the  fruit-cultivator.  Many  kinds  of 
pears  grow  with  great  luxuriance  when  grafted  or 
budded  on  the  quince  stock,  while  other  kinds,  culti- 
vated in  the  same  soil,  and  budded  or  grafted  with 
equal  care,  will  grow  feebly,  and  die  in  the  course  of 
a  year  or  two. 

The  Noblesse  and  Royal  George  peaches  form  fine 
healthy  trees  when  budded  on  the  Muscle  plum  stock. 
The  Grosse  Mignonne  and  the  French  Galande  die  in 
a  year  or  two,  if  budded  on  it.  The  Moor  Park  apri- 
cot grows  readily  and  freely  on  the  above-named  stock. 
The  peach  apricot,  its  French  congener,  will  not ; 
why  ?  The  Bigarreau  and  the  Heart  cherries  (or,  as 
the  French  call  them,  Guignes)  do  not  succeed  well 
on  the  Cerasus  Mahaleb  ;  they  grow  most  rapidly  for 
two  or  three  years,  and  then  generally  become  gummy 
and  diseased. 

The  stock  raised  from  the  small  black  and  red  wild 
cherries  is  the  proper  one  for  this  race,  except  they 
are  double  grafted. 

Pyramidal  cherry  trees  maybe  bought  ready-made, 
or  formed  by  purchasing  young  trees,  one  year  old, 
from  the  bud,  and  training  them  up  in  the  same  way 
as  directed  for  pyramidal  pears  (pp.  4  and  5),  with 
this  variation — pears,  as  is  well  known,  may  be  grown 
as  pyramids  successfully,  with  or  without  root-prun- 
ing or  biennial  removal ;  but  cherries  on  common 
cherry  stocks  will  grow  so  rapidly,  in  spite  of  summer 
pinching,  that  biennial  removal  is  a  work  of  necessity. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  pyramidal  cherry  trees 
thus  treated  become  pictures  of  beauty.  In  France 
they  generally  fail,  and  become  full  of  dead  stumps 


PYRAMIDAL  CHERRIES.  93 

and  gum,  owing  to  their  trusting  entirely  to  pruning 
their  trees  severely  in  summer  and  winter,  without 
attending  to  their  roots ;  the  trees  thus  being  full  of 
vigor  make  strong  shoots,  only  to  be  pinched  and  cut 
off.  We  must  "  manage  these  things  better"  in  Eng- 
land. 

The  mode  of  operation  in  removing  pyramidal 
cherries  is  the  same  as  that  recommended  for  pears 
and  apples,  &c.  It  will  be  found,  however,  that  more 
labor  is  required,  for  in  two  years  the  cherry  on  the 
common  stock,  like  the  apple  on  the  crab,  makes  a 
vigorous  attempt  to  lay  hold  of  its  parent  earth.  The 
second  year  the  tree  may  be  lifted  by  digging  a  trench 
round  its  stem,  one  foot  from  it  and  16  inches  deep. 
The  fourth  year  this  trench  must  be  made  18  inches 
from  the  stem  and  20  inches  deep ;  the  sixth  year  it 
should  be  2  feet  from  the  stem  and  2  feet  deep.  This 
distance  and  depth  need  not  be  departed  from  if  the 
trees  are  required  to  be  only  fair-sized  pyramids ;  the 
straggling  roots  beyond  this  circumference  should  be 
biennially  pruned  off  with  the  knife.  The  tree  man- 
aged thus  will  soon  be  in  a  mature,  fruitful  state, 
and  its  roots  a  mass  of  fibres,  so  that  when  removed 
it  will,  like  the  rhododendron,  receive  only  a  healthy 
check. 

Pyramidal  Bigarreau  and  Heart  cherries,  cultivated 
after  the  method  above  given,  may  be  planted  in 
small  grass  orchards,  with  pyramidal  pears  on  pear 
stocks,  pyramidal  apples  on  crab  stocks,  and  pyramidal 
plums.  A  charming  orchard  in  miniature  may  thus 
be  formed.  Cattle  and  sheep  must,  of  course,  be 
excluded. 


94:  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT  GARDEN. 

The  following  varieties  form  handsome  pyramidal 
trees,  and  bear  fruit  of  the  finest  quality  :— 


Belle  (TOrleans* 
Bigarreau 

Bigarreau  Napoleon 
Black  Eagle* 
Black  Tartarian 
Downton 


Elton* 
Florence* 
Governor  Wood* 
Knight's  Early  Black* 
Ohio  Beauty 
Werder's  Early  Black 


I  have  thus  far  given  the  results  of  my  experience 
in  the  culture  of  pyramidal  trees.  The  method  is  not 
by  any  means  new,  for  visitors  to  the  Continent,  for 
these  last  fifty  years,  must  have  often  observed  the 
numerous  pyramids  of  France  and  Belgium.  The 
system  of  annual  and  biennial  root-pruning  I  must, 
however,  claim  as  original,  for  I  feel  assured  that  in 
our  moist  climate — too  moist  for  many  varieties  of 
fruit — such  check  is  required  to  keep  pyramids  that 
are  under  summer  pinching  in  a  healthy,  fruitful  state. 
The  defect  in  the  pyramidal  trees  of  the  Continental 
gardeners  is  their  tendency  to  an  enormous  produc- 
tion of  leaves  and  shoots,  brought  on  by  severe  annual 
pruning  of  their  shoots.  The  climate  is  probably  too 
dry  for  root-pruning ;  yet  I  cannot  help  thinking  that 
if  it  were  followed  by  manuring  thickly  on  the  sur- 
face, and  occasional  watering,  it  would  make  their 
trees  prodigiously  fruitful. 

At  the  risk  of  repetition,  and  writing  from  my  own 
experience,  I  must  say  that  no  gardening  operation 
can  be  more  agreeable  than  paying  daily  attention  to 
a  plantation  of  pyramids.  From  the  end  of  May  to 
the  end  of  July — those  beautiful  months  of  our  short 
summer — there  are  always  shoots  to  watch,  to  pinch, 
to  direct,  fruit  to  thin,  and  a  host  of  pleasant  opera- 
tions, so  winning  to  one  who  loves  his  garden  and 
eviery  tree  and  plant  in  it. 


FILBERTS  AND   NUTS   AS   STANDARDS.  95 

To  conclude,  I  may  mention  that  the  small  Alberge 
apricot,  raised  from  the  stone,  and  producing  small 
high-flavored  fruit,  and  also  the  Breda  apricot,  make 
very  beautiful  pyramids  if  lifted  or  planted  biennially. 
In  the  southern  counties  of  England,  in  a  favorable 
season,  they  will  ripen  their  fruit,  and  produce  good 
crops.  The  large  Portugal  quince  is  also  very  prolific 
as  a  pyramidal  tree.  Some  trees  only  two  years  old 
have  borne  fine  fruit  here.  This  is  the  finest  of  all 
the  quinces,  and  in  the  south  of  Europe  it  grows  to 
an  enormous  size.  The  Medlar  will  also  form  a  hand- 
some and  productive  pyramid,  and,  "  last,  but  not 
least "  in  the  estimation  of  the  lover  of  soft  fruits,  the 
currant.  A  near  neighbor — an  ingenious  gardener 
— attaches  much  value,  and  with  reason,  to  his  pyra- 
midal currant  trees ;  for  his  table  is  supplied  abun- 
dantly with  their  fruit  till  late  in  autumn.  The  lead- 
ing shoots  of  his  trees  are  fastened  to  iron  rods  ;  they 
form  nice  pyramids  of  about  five  feet  in  height ;  and 
by  the  clever  contrivance  of  slipping  a  bag  made  of 
coarse  muslin  over  every  tree  as  soon  as  the  fruit  is 
ripe,  fastening  it  securely  to  the  bottom,  wasps,  and 
birds,  and  flies,  and  all  the  ills  that  beset  ripe  currants 
are  excluded.  With  all  these,  summer  pinching  and 
root-pruning,  or  biennial  removal  (except  the  currant, 
which  does  not  require  the  latter  operation),  as  di- 
rected for  pears,  are  indispensable ;  they  soon  form 
very  handsome  pyramids,  and  make  a  pleasing  variety 
in  the  fruit  garden. 

FILBERTS   AND   NUTS    AS    STANDARDS. 

Filberts,  as  commonly  cultivated,  except   in   the 
5* 


96  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT  GARDEN. 

Kentish  gardens,  form  straggling  bushes,  and  are 
some  years  before  they  commence  to  bear.  To  cor- 
rect this,  I  some  ten  or  more  years  since  had  them 
grafted  on  stems  of  the  hazel-nut  raised  from  Spanish 
nuts,  as  they  were  vigorous  growers  and  formed  stout 
stems.  I  have  found  these  grafted  trees  answer  ad- 
mirably, and  come  quickly  into  bearing,  forming  nice 
garden  trees. 

As  soon  as  the  nut  trees  designed  for  stocks  have 
made  stout  stems  about  four  feet  high,  they  should  be 
grafted  at  that  height  with  the  choice  kind  of  nuts, 
such  as  red  and  white  filberts  and  the  Cusford  nut — • 
an  excellent  nut.  The  purple-leaved  filbert,  gener- 
ally planted  as  an  ornamental  shrub,  may  also  be 
grafted ;  it  gives  nuts  equal  to  the  common  filbert, 
and  forms  a  nice  ornamental  standard. 

Standard  nuts  require  but  little  culture ;  they  soon 
form  round  heads,  and  bear  profusely.  Care  must  be 
taken  to  destroy  all  suckers  from  the  stem  and  root. 

The  only  pruning  required  is  in  winter,  to  thin  out 
the  crowded  shoots,  and  shorten  to  half  their  length 
those  that  are  inclined  to  be  vigorous — that  is,  those 
that  are  more  than  nine  inches  in  length.  The  short 
spray-like  shoots  must  not  be  shortened,  as  they  are 
the  fruit-givers. 

If  these  standard  nuts  are  planted  in  rich  garden 
soils,  they  will  soon  make  trees  too  large  for  small 
gardens.  If,  therefore,  they  are  found  to  grow  too 
vigorously,  they  should  be  lifted  and  replanted  bien- 
nially in  November. 

I  have  mentioned  seedling  nuts  as  good  for  stocks ; 
but  I  have  lately  employed  a  valuable  sort  introduced 


FI&S  AS  HALF  STANDARDS  OR  BUSHES.  97 

from  Germany  as  Corylus  arborescens  ;  this  makes  a 
beautiful  clear  stem. 

The  Algiers  nut,  Corylus  algerensis,  seems  also  to 
be  well  adapted  for  a  stock  for  standards,  as  it  makes 
shoots  from  six  to  seven  feet  in  one  season. 

FIGS    AS    HALF    STANDARDS    OR   BUSHES. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  fruit  tree  that  disappoints 
the  amateur  fruit  grower  so  much  as  the  fig.  If 
planted  in  the  open  borders  of  the  garden,  it  soon 
grows  into  an  enormous  fruitless  bush  or  tree,  and 
if  placed  against  a  wall,  unless  a  very  large  space 
can  be  given  to  it,  but  little  fruit  must  be  expected. 

It  may,  however,  be  made  eligible  for  small  gar- 
dens, where  the  climate  is  sufficiently  warm  to  ripen 
its  fruit,  such  as  the  gardens  near  London,  and  those 
in  the  eastern  and  southern  counties.  Fruitfulness 
and  moderate  growth  are  brought  on  by  the  following 
method.  Trees  should  be  procured  of  the  Brown 
Turkey  or  Lee's  Perpetual,  White  Marseilles  and 
Early  Violet  Figs — these  are  the  only  kinds  that  bear 
freely,  and  ripen  their  fruit  well — such  trees  should  be 
low  or  half  standards,  or  dwarfs  with  a  clear  stem 
(not  bushes  branching  from  the  ground).  The  former 
should  have  a  stem  three  feet  high,  and  the  latter  one 
from  one  foot  to  eighteen  inches ;  in  each  case  the 
tree  should  have  a  nice  rounded  head. 

Trees  thus  selected  should  be  planted  in  a  sunny 
situation,  and  require  only  the  following  simple  mode 
of  treatment.  They,  we  will  assume,  were  planted  in 
March  or  April.  They  will  make  a  tolerably  vigorous 
growth,  and  must  be  pruned  by  pinching  off  the  top 


98  THE  MINIATURE  FRUIT  GARDEN. 

of  every  shoot  as  soon  as  it  has  made  six  leaves,  leav- 
ing five.  The  stem  must  be  kept  quite  clear  from 
young  shoots.  By  the  autumn,  nice  round-headed 
trees  will  be  formed,  and  about  the  end  of  October 
they  should  be  taken  up  (their  leaves  cut  off,  if  they 
have  not  fallen)  and  placed  in  a  cellar — no  matter  if 
dark,  but  a  light  dry  cellar  would  be  preferable — some 
earth  should  be  placed  over  their  roots,  and  there 
they  may  remain  till  the  first  week  in  May,  when 
they  should  be  planted  out,  and  the  same  routine  of 
culture  followed.  They  will  bear  one  good  crop  of 
fruit  in  a  season,  and  ripen  it  in  September.  This 
annual  removal  brings  on  great  sturdiness  of  growth 
in  the  tree,  and  the  roots  becomes  so  fibrous  as  to  hold 
a  large  quantity  of  earth,  which  should  not  be  shaken 
from  them  when  they  go  into  their  annual  winter 
abode.  In  the  year  1857  I  saw  fine  trees  thus  treated 
in  the  garden  of  the  Duke  of  Altenburg,  in  Central 
Germany ;  their  stems  were  as  stout  as  a  man's  leg 
and  their  heads  full  of  fruit ;  and  this  season,  JS65, 
my  fig-trees,  taken  up  last  October,  and  placed  in  the 
orchard-house  during  the  winter — their  roots  in  the 
soil — have  given  me  a  crop  of  very  rich,  well-ripened 
fruit.  The  roots  that  have  borne  best  are  the  Brown 
Ischia,  Brown  Turkey,  and  Brunswick. 

THE      BIENNIAL    REMOVAL    OF     FRUIT      TREES     WITHOUT 
ROOT-PRUNING. 

For  some  few  years  past  I  have  felt  a  growing  con- 
viction that  peach  trees  trained  against  walls  in  the 
usual  manner,  without  careful  root  cultivation,  can- 
not, in  our  climate,  be  kept  in  a  state  at  all  healthy 


BIENNIAL  REMOVAL  OF  FRUIT   TREES.  99 

or  fertile  for  a  series  of  years.  A  wall  covered  with 
healthy  peach  or  nectarine  trees  of  a  good  ripe  age  is 
rarely  to  be  seen  ;  failing  crops  and  blighted  trees  are 
the  rule,  healthy  and  fertile  trees  the  exception.  The 
following  mode  of  treating  peaches,  nectarines,  apri- 
cots, and  plums  on  the  removal  system  I  have  found 
simple  and  efficacious. 

Supposing  a  trained  tree,  of  the  usual  size,  to  have 
been  planted  in  a  border  well  prepared — i.  e.,  stirred 
to  a  depth  of  twenty  inches  ;  it  may  be  trained  to  the 
wall  as  usual,  and  suffered  to  grow  two  seasons.  To- 
ward the  end  of  October,  or,  indeed,  any  time  in  No- 
vember in  the  second  season,  it  should  be  carefully 
taken  up,  with  all  its  roots  intact.  If  there  be  two  or 
three  stragglers — i.  e.,  roots  of  two  or  three  feet  in 
length — for  roots  are  remarkably  eccentric,  and  often, 
without  any  apparent  cause,  run  away  in  search  of 
something  they  take  a  fancy  to — cut  off  one  foot  or  so, 
so  as  to  make  the  roots  of  the  tree  more  snug.  Then 
make  the  hole  from  whence  you  took  your  tree  a 
little  deeper,  and  fit  to  receive  its  roots  without  bend- 
ing or  twisting.  Place  in  it  any  light  compost.  If 
the  soil  be  heavy,  leaf-mould,  rotten  manure,  and 
loam,  equal  parts  :  if  it  be  light,  two-thirds  tender 
loam,  not  sandy,  and  one-third  rotten  manure.  Two 
inches  deep  of  this  compost  will  be  enough  for  the 
roots  of  the  tree  to  rest  on  ;  and  mind  they  are  care- 
fully arranged,  so  as  to  diverge  regularly  :  then  add 
enough  of  the  compost  to  cover  all  the  roots,  and  fill 
in  with  the  common  soil,  so  as  not  to  cover  the  sur- 
face roots  more  than  two  inches  deep.  If  the  soil  be 
light,  the  surface  should  be  trodden  down  very  firmly, 


100  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

and  then  have  a  dressing  of  old  tan,  or  decayed 
litter. 

A  tree  that  has  been  planted  two  years  will  require 
one  barrowful  of  the  above  compost ;  at  the  end  of 
four  years,  two  barrowfuls ;  when  six  years  have 
passed,  from  three  to  four  barrowfuls ;  and  from  four 
to  six  barrowfuls  will  be  enough  for  a  tree  from  twelve 
to  twenty  years  old — in  short,  for  a  full-grown  tree. 
A  portion  of  the  earth  from  the  border  must  be  re- 
moved when  a  large  quantity  of  compost  is  added,  to 
make  room  for  it,  so  as  not  to  have  an  unsightly 
mound.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three  removals, 
the  roots  of  the  tree  will  become  a  mass  of  fibres, 
and  the  trees  so  docile  as  to  be  lifted  without  difficulty. 

I  have  this  day  (Dec.  12,  1852)  removed  two  plum 
trees  that  have  been  planted  six  years  and  removed 
twice.  Their  roots  are  a  mass  of  fibres  without  one 
straggling  root ;  they  have  been  replanted  with  a  bar- 
rowful of  light  compost  to  each  tree,1  and,  if  I  may 
judge  by  the  enormous  quantity  of  blossom  buds,  they 
will  bear  a  plentiful  crop  next  season.  They  will  re- 
ceive no  unhealthy  check,  for  abundance  of  earth 
adheres  to  the  mass  of  fibrous  roots.  Now,  as  peaches, 
nectarines,  and  apricots,  being  budded  on  plum  stocks, 
are  all  on  plum  roots,  they  will  give  exactly  the  same 
results  from  the  same  mode  of  culture,  neither  the  size 
nor  flavor  of  the  fruit  will  be  affected,  and  the  trees 
will  always  bear  abundantly,  and  be  healthy  and 
flourishing. 

1  The  soil  is  rich,  and  one  barrowful  I  thought  quite  enough.  The  qnanti- 
ty  of  compost  must  be  regulated  by  the  wants  of  the  soil,  for  in  rich  soils,  where 
peaches  and  nectarines  are  apt  to  grow  too  freely,  no  compost  need  be  added,  but 
the  tree  merely  lifted  and  replaced.  A  peach,  nectarine,  or  apricot  tree,  under  the 
removal  system,  that  makes  annual  shoots  more  than  fifteen  inches  in  length,  is 
too  luxuriant,  and  will  require  no  compost  to  its  roots  when  replanted. 


REMOVING    TREES  BIENNIALLY.  1Q1 

The  plethoric  habit  of  the  Moor  Park  and  Peach 
apricots,  which  so  often  leads  to  disease  and  death, 
will  be  effectually  cured  by  this  simple  mode  of  cul- 
ture, and  peaches  and  nectarines  will  make  short 
annual  shoots,  which  will  be  always  well  ripened,  so 
that  they  will  be  constantly  full  of  healthy  blossom- 
buds.  For  trees  under  Mr.  Ker's  trellises,  it  answers 
admirably.  Some  mulch,  or  old  tan,  two  inches  in 
depth,  placed  on  the  surface  of  the  soil  so  far  as  the 
roots  spread  during  the  spring  and  summer,  will  be 
of  much  service. 

All  trees  that  are  inclined  to  make  very  fibrous 
roots,  such  as  plums,  pears  on  quince  stocks,  and  ap- 
ples on  Paradise  stocks,  may  be  lifted — i.  e.,  removed 
biennially,  as  above  described — with  equal  or  greater 
facility  than  root-pruning  them.  The  effect  is  the 
same  :  they  make  short,  well-ripened  shoots,  and  bear 
abundantly.  Apples  on  Paradise  stocks,  cultivated 
as  dwarf  bushes  or  as  pyramids,  if  lifted  every  year, 
and  a  shovelful  or  two  of  compost  given  to  them,  form 
delightful  little  trees.1  The  most  delicate  sorts  of 
apples,  such  as  Golden  Pippins  and  Nonpareils,  may 
thus  be  cultivated  in  the  most  unfavorable  soils  ;  and 
Roses,  more  particularly  Bourbon  Roses  on  short 
stems,  and  Hybrid  Perpetuals,  removed  annually  in 
the  autumn,  giving  to  each  tree  a  shovelful  of  rich 
compost,  and  not  pruning  their  shoots  till  April,  will 
bloom  delightfully  all  the  autumn,  never  dropping 
their  leaves  towards  the  end  of  summer,  and  becom- 
ing, as  is  too  often  the  case,  blighted  and  blossomless. 

1  In  moist  retentive  soils,  the  fruit-spurs  of  small  trees  become  covered  with 
moss ;  some  powdered  lime  sprinkled  over  them  will  destroy  it ;  this  is  best  done 
in  foggy  weather  in  winter. 


102  THE  MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

To  conclude,  I  will,  as  a  guide  to  the  amateur,  give 
the  following  summary  : — If  the  soil  be  very  rich,  so 
as  to  induce  the  trees  planted  in  it  to  make  a  growth 
of  eighteen  inches  in  one  season,  they  may  be  removed 
annually  till  this  vigorous  growth  ceases.  If  the  trees 
make  an  annual  growth  only  of  eight  to  ten  inches, 
the  trees  may  be  removed  biennially,  and  I  may  add 
that,  in  soils  in  which  trees  grow  slowly,  root-pruning 
is  more  advantageous  than  removal,  as  less  check  is 
given  to  vegetation. 

DOUBLE  GRAFTING  OF  FRUIT  TREES. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  find  this  mode  of  culture, 
likely  to  be  so  beneficial  to  fruit  gardens  in  England, 
alluded  to  by  the  many  authors  of  works  on  fruit  trees ; 
it  may  be  "  as  old  as  the  hills,"  and  have  no  claim  to 
originality,  but  few  so-called  new  ideas  have.  I  can 
only  therefore  state  how  it  originated  here  some  fif- 
teen or  twenty  years  since.  I  am  not  aware  that  it 
has  been  practised  by  the  clever  fruit  tree  cultivators 
of  France  and  Belgium ;  if  so,  it  has  been  recently 
copied  from  English  practice,  but  I  never  remember 
having  seen  it  carried  out. 

Its  history,  briefly  told,  is  as  follows  : — I  observed, 
when  budding  and  grafting  pears  on  the  quince  stock, 
that  some  varieties  did  not  grow  freely  on  that  stock, 
when  budded  or  grafted ;  particularly  the  Gansel's 
Bergamot  and  the  Autumn  Bergamot,  the  Seckel,  the 
Marie  Louise,  Knight's  Monarch,  and  some  others. 
Now,  as  the  first  and  last  mentioned  are  notorious  for 
their  shy  bearing  qualities,  while  the  trees  are  young, 


DOUBLE   GRAFTING-  OF  FRUIT  TREES.  103 

even  wlien  root-pruned  or  frequently  removed,  I  felt 
anxious  to  see  them  flourishing  on  the  quince  stock, 
T  which  invariably  makes  pear  trees  fertile.  I  found 
that  but  few  grafts  of  these  sorts  out  of  scores  would 
survive  on  the  quince,  and  when  they  did  unite  they 
were  very  short  lived  ;  this  induced  me  to  look  nar- 
rowly into  the  habits  of  pear  trees  on  the  quince  stock, 
and  I  found  that  the  Beurre  d'Amanlis  formed  a  most 
perfect  union  with  the  stock,  and  seemed  most  endu- 
ring, for  I  had  seen  trees  in  France  at  least  fifty  years 
old.  I  therefore  fixed  upon  this  sort  for  my  experi- 
ment, and  had  thrifty  trees,  two  years  old  from  the 
bud,  grafted  with  GansePs  Bergamot ;  the  grafts 
flourished,  and  became  so  prolific  that,  when  three  or 
four  years  old,  they  each  bore  from  three  to  four  dozen 
of  fruit — a  most  unusual  thing  with  that  fine  variety. 
This  settled  the  question  as  to  the  fertility  given  by 
double  grafting,  which,  since  this  experiment,  has  be- 
come here  an  extensive  branch  of  culture.  There  are 
other  kinds  of  pears  which,  from  uniting  with  and 
growing  freely  on  the  quince  stock,  serve  well  for 
double  grafting,  such  as  Prince  Albert,  Bezi  Goubault, 
and  Conseiller  de  la  Cour.  Prince  Albert  is  a  sort 
well  adapted  for  the  Monarch,  Marie  Louise,  Prince 
of  Wales  (Huyshe),  Victoria  (Huyshe),  and  British 
Queen ;  Beurre  d'Amanlis  may  be  used  for  the  Jargo- 
nelle and  Bergamots,  as  may  also  Bezi  Goubault,  the 
hardiest  pear  known.  The  cultivator  has  something 
to  learn,  for  there  are  many  pears  of  the  finest  quali- 
ty, but  of  a  delicate  and  infertile  habit,  that  may  be 
much  improved  by  double  grafting. 

Our  garden  culture  of  cherries  is,  as  yet,  rude  and 


104:  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEX. 

imperfect ;  and  espaliers  of  the  Bigarreau  and  Guigne 
or  Heart  tribe  are  planted  and  trained  along  the  sides 
of  the  garden  walks,  giving  abundance  of  shoots  and 
leaves,  but  very  little  fruit  (which  the  birds  appro- 
priate), and  in  the  course  of  time  give  out  gum — 
owing  to  their  having  been  unmercifully  pruned — 
and  die  full  of  years  and  barren  shoots,  having  given 
much  trouble  to  the  gardener.  I  have  pointed  out 
how  cherries  may  be  cultivated  in  gardens  as  pyra- 
mids, &c.,  and  have  alluded  to  fertility  in  the  Bigar- 
reau and  Heart  tribe  being  promoted  by  double  graft- 
ing ;  this  mode  of  culture  is  also  interesting,  as  leading 
to  success  in  soils  that  seem  unfavorable  to  cherries 
under  some  circumstances. 

Cherries  grafted  on  the  Mahaleb  are  described  pp. 
85  to  90 ;  they  affect  calcareous  soils,  and,  as  far  as  I 
can  learn,  do  not  succeed  so  well  in  the  sandstone 
formations,  and  where  iron  abounds  in  the  soil ;  in 
such  situations,  double  grafted  trees  should  be  planted 
formed  in  this  way — the  common  Morello  cherry 
should  be  budded  on  the  Mahaleb  stock,  and  after  two 
years  it  should  be  grafted  with  some  kind  of  Bigar- 
reau, Heart,  or  Guigne  cherry ;  it  will  form  a  small 
or  moderate  sized  tree,  and  bear  abundantly.  In  cul- 
tivating cherry  trees  in  soils  inimical  to  their  well- 
doing, abundance  of  chalk  or  lime  rubbish  should  be 
mixed  with  the  earth  to  the  depth  of  two  feet. 

Double  grafting  of  apples  is  of  very  inferior  im- 
portance as  compared  with  the  same  operation  on 
pears  or  cherries,  for  our  English  Paradise  stocks  give 
the  most  perfect  health  and  fertility  in  nearly  all  soils. 
Still  there  may  be  some  peculiar  positions,  where  the 


DOUBLE   GRAFTING  OF  FRUIT   TREES.  1Q5 

soils  are  very  light  and  poor,  in  which  strong,  robust 
sorts  of  the  crab  stock  are  required  to  make  healthy 
fruitful  trees.  In  such  cases  it  is  better  to  graft  such 
sorts  as  the  Hawthornden,  Manx  Codlin,  and  Small's 
Admirable,  on  thrifty  crab  stocks,  and  when  two  years 
old  regraft  them  with  choice  dessert  kinds :  all  double 
grafting  is  best  done  when  the  first  graft  is  two  years 
old.  I  have  now  pointed  out  to  a  certain  extent  the 
advantages  of  double  grafting,  but  much  must  be  left 
to  the  intelligent  amateur.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
English  cultivators,  more  particularly  nurserymen, 
have  not  turned  their  attention  to  the  benefit  choice 
fruit  trees  derive  from  having  the  proper  kind  of  stock 
selected  for  them,  or  from  being  double  grafted.  Mr. 
George  Lindley,  father  of  Dr.  Lindley,  seems  to  have 
turned  his  attention  to  fruit  tree  stocks,  more  than 
any  other  nurseryman  of  his  day ;  still  he  knew  only 
those  grown  by  the  Surrey  Nurserymen  of  the  present 
day — a  very  imperfect  list — for  nurserymen,  like 
farmers,  move  slowly.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since  that 
the  common  fruit-bearing  quince,  raised  from  layers 
— a  most  unfit  stock — was  sold  in  Surrey  for  stocks 
for  pears,  and  Muscle,  White  Pear  plum,  Brompton, 
Brussels,  and  "Commoners"  (i.e.,  common  plum 
stocks),  are  still  the  plum  stocks  propagated  in  Surrey 
for  sale  ;  all  except  the  first  and  the  last  are  of  infe- 
rior quality  and  are  surpassed  by  the  French  stock, 
the  Black  Damask  plum,  which  suits  Peaches,  Necta- 
rines, Apricots,  and  all  kinds  of  plums. 

The  double  budding  of  some  kinds  of  peaches  and 
nectarines  is  almost  necessary  to  their  w^ell  doing  in 
some  soils,  yet  this  method  of  culture  seems  to  have 


106  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

been  neglected  by  European  nurserymen.  The  truth 
must  be  confessed,  that  nurserymen,  as  a  class,  have 
but  little  taste  for  pomology ;  they  take  to  flowers  and 
plants  eagerly,  because  they  give  a  quick  return  ;  and 
thus  Pomona  and  her  gifts  are  always  placed  in  the 
shade — as  to  experiments,  "  they  do  not  pay."  There 
are  some  free  growing  kinds  of  apricots  which,  when 
budded  on  the  plum,  and  the  young  apricot  budded 
with  a  peach  or  nectarine,  produce  the  most  favor- 
able effects  on  the  peach  tree,  the  union  being  perfect 
and  the  duration  of  it  much  lengthened.  There  are 
also  one  or  two  kinds  of  plums  which,  being  budded 
on  a  wild  kind  of  plum,  furnish  when  double  budded 
a  most  favorable  stock  for  the  peach,  giving  it  hardi- 
ness and  fertility.  We  are  still  very  backward  in  our 
knowledge  of  the  effects  of  stocks  on  fruits ;  the  sub- 
ject requires  much  time  and  research,  and  110  rushing 
to  conclusions  like  some  of  our  writers,  who  write  on 
every  thing  and  nothing  well,  only  because  they  have 
not  the  necessary  patience  to  master  a  few  subjects 
thoroughly. 

HOW   TO   PREPARE   A   PEACH    TREE   BORDER   IN   LIGHT 
SOILS. 

In  our  southern  counties,  where  light  sandy  soils 
abound,  the  difficulty  of  making  peach  and  nectarine 
trees  trained  to  walls  flourish  is  well  known  ;  in  spring 
they  are  liable  to  the  curl  and  the  attacks  of  aphides,  in 
summer  they  are  infested  with  the  red  spider,  so  that 
the  trees  are  weakened,  and  rarely  give  good  fruit : 
they  seem,  indeed,  to  detest  light  soils.  The  follow- 
ing method  of  preparing  borders  for  them  in  such 


PEACH  TREE  BORDER  IN  LIGHT   SOILS.          107 

soils  may  be  well  known,  but  I  have  not  seen  it  de- 
scribed by  any  gardening  author.  The  idea  has  come 
to  me  from  observing  peach  trees,  trained  to  walls,  re- 
fuse to  do  well  in  the  light  sandy  soil  forming  a  part 
of  my  nursery,  except  near  paths,  and  to  grow  and 
do  well  for  years  in  the  stiff  tenacious  loam  forming 
another  part.  My  bearing  trees  in  pots,  for  which  I 
use  tenacious  loam  and  dung,  rammed  down  with  a 
wooden  pestle,~  also  bear  and  flourish  almost  beyond 
belief;  and  so  I  am  induced  to  recommend  that,  in 
light  soils,  the  peach  tree  border  should  be  made  as 
follows : — To  a  wall  of  moderate  height,  say  nine  or 
ten  feet,  a  border  six  feet  wide,  and  to  a  wall  twelve  feet 
high,  one  eight  feet  wide  should  be  marked  out ;  if  the 
soil  be  poor  and  exhausted  by  cropping,  or  if  it  be  an 
old  garden,  a  dressing  of  rotten  dung l  and  tenacious 
loam,  or  clay,  equal  parts,  five  inches  in  thickness, 
should  be  spread  over  the  surface  of  the  border :  it 
should  then  be  stirred  to  two  feet  in  depth,  and  the 
loam  and  dung  well  mixed  with  the  soil.  The  trees 
may  be  planted  during  the  winter,  and  in  March,  in 
dry  weather,  the  border  all  over  its  surface  should  be 
thoroughly  rammed  down  with  a  wooden  rammer,  so 
as  to  make  it  like  a  well-trodden  path;  some  light 
half-rotten  manure,  say  from  one  to  two  inches  in 
depth,  may  then  be  spread  over  it,  and  the  operation 
is  complete.  This  border  must  never  be  stirred,  ex- 
cept with  the  hoe,  to  destroy  weeds,  and,  of  course, 
never  cropped:  every  succeeding  spring,  in  dry 
weather,  the  ramming  and  dressing  must  be  repeated, 
as  the  soil  is  always  much  loosened  by  frost.  If  this 

1  If  the  border  be  new  or  rich   with  manure,  a  dressing  of  the  loam,  or  clay 
only,  four  inches  in  thickness,  will  be  sufficient. 


108  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

method  be  followed,  peaches  and  nectarines  may  be 
made  to  flourish  in  our  dry  southern  counties,  where 
they  have  hitherto  brought  nothing  but  disappoint- 
ment. 

The  two  grand  essentials  for  peach  culture  are  stiff 
loam  and  a  sunny  climate. 

A    CHEAP   METHOD    OF    PROTECTING   WALL   TREES. 

At  Twyford  Lodge,  near  East  Grin  stead,  Sussex, 
the  seat  of  E.  Trotter,  Esq.,  is  a  wall  75  feet  long, 
covered  with  peaches  and  nectarines,  which,  for  sev- 
eral years,  had  given  no  fruit ;  some  years  ago,  the 
gardener,  Mr.  Murrell,  asked  my  advice  about  pro- 
tecting it  with  glass  ;  and,  acting  upon  it  with  his  own 
adaptation,  has  succeeded,  every  season  since  its  erec- 
tion, in  securing  fine  crops  of  fruit  of  superior  flavor. 
The  following  is  a  description  of  this  simple  struc- 
ture : — 

At  the  top  of  the  wall,  which  is  12  feet  high,  is 
nailed  a  plate  for  the  ends  of  the  rafters  to  rest  on ;  4 
feet  6  inches  from  the  wall  is  a  row  of  posts,  6  inches 
by  4  (these  should  be  of  oak),  6  feet  apart,  and  3  feet 
6  inches  in  height,  from  the  ground  ;  on  these  is  nail- 
ed a  plate  to  receive  the  lower  ends  of  the  rafters  ;  the 
latter  are  8  feet  long,  3  inches  by  1|,  and  20  inches 
asunder ;  and  the  glass  employed  is  16  oz.  sheet,  20 
inches  by  12.  Every  fourth  square  of  glass  at  the  top 
next  the  wall  is  fixed  into  a  slight  frame  of  wood, 
with  a  hinge  at  the  top  of  each,  and  made  to  open 
all  at  once  by  a  line  running  in  a  wheel ;  the  front  is 
of  f -inch  deal  boards  nailed  to  the  posts,  one  of  which, 
one  foot  wide,  near  the  top,  is  on  hinges,  forming  a 


STANDARD   ORCHARD  TREES.  109 

drop  shutter  the  whole  length  of  the  front.  Now 
comes  the  management  by  which  red  spider,  the 
deadly  foe  of  the  peach  tree,  is  discomfited ;  and  let 
me  quote  Mr.  Murrel : — 

"  All  these  ventilators,  back  and  front,  I  leave  open 
day  and  night  after  May,  except  in  very  wet  and 
rough  weather.  The  first  season  I  had  the  red  spider 
(it  was  in  the  walls),  but  the  fruit  was  of  the  highest 
flavor ;  the  second  season  the  fruit  was  very  fine,  and 
the  spiders  never  came,  I  believe,  owing  entirely  to 
my  syringing  the  trees  twice  a  day,  morning  and 
afternoon,  and  leaving  all  the  ventilators  open ;  be- 
sides this,  the  boards  have  shrunk,  so  that  there  are 
wide  crevices,  and  the  place  is  always  airy.  I  thank 
you  for  your  hints  about  giving  plenty  of  air ;  the 
trees  are  admired  by  all  who  see  them." 

The  roof,  it  will  be  seen,  is  fixed,  and  the  whole 
structure  a  fixture;  the  trees  can  be  pruned  and 
nailed  under  shelter,  and  a  crop  of  fruit  always  in- 
sured ;  how  superior,  then,  is  this  to  all  the  tempo- 
rary protectors  for  walls  so  often  recommended  ! 

STANDARD  ORCHARD  TREES. 

Although  in  this  little  work  I  profess  to  confine 
myself  to  the  culture  of  garden  fruit  trees,  I  feel  that 
a  few  words  as  to  my  method  of  planting  trees  in  an 
orchard  under  grass  may  not  be  out  of  place,  for  very 
frequently  a  villa  residence  may  have  a  piece  of  pas- 
ture land  attached  to  it  favorable  to  the  growth  of 
orchard  trees,  and  quite  necessary  as  a  convenient 
place  for  the  cow  or  the  horse  or  horses.  The  com- 
mon practice  is  to  open  large  holes  in  the  turf,  six 


HO  THE   MINIATURE  FRUIT   GARDEN. 

feet  in  diameter,  and  from  two  to  three  feet .  deep ; 
and  in  the  centre  to  plant  a  tree.  In  rich  deep  loamy 
soils  trees  often  succeed  when  planted  in  this  manner, 
and  as  often  fail,  the  hole  becoming  in  wet  seasons  a 
pond. 

Orchard  trees,  as  a  general  rule,  should  be  planted 
twenty-four  feet  apart,  row  from  row,  and  they  are 
for  the  most  part  planted  twenty-four  feet  apart  in  the 
rows,  so  as  to  :-tand  that  distance  apart  over  the  whole 
orchard.  I  now  propose  that  the  rows  should  be 
twenty-four  feet  apart,  but  the  trees  twelve  feet  apart 
in  the  rows,  so  as  to  allow  of  one-third  more  trees  to 
the  acre.  Instead  of  digging  large  holes,  slips,  six 
feet  wide,  should  be  marked  out  on  the  turf,  so  that 
the  centre  of  each  is  twenty-four  feet  apart ;  each 
slip  should  then  be  trenched,  or,  as  it  is  often  called, 
"  double-dug,"  to  a  depth  of  two  feet,  turning  the  turf 
to  the  bottom  of  the  trench  and  bringing  the  subsoil 
to  the  surface.  A  row  of  trees  should  be  planted  in 
the  centre  of  each  slip,  twelve  feet  apart,  and  after 
the  lapse  of  some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  every  alter- 
nate tree  should  be  either  removed  and  replanted  or 
grubbed  up.  As  such  large  standard  trees  would 
require  much  care  in  transplanting,  and  even  then 
probably  not  succeed,  the  latter  may  prove  the  more 
economic  mode.  By  thus  planting  more  trees  than 
required  for  a  permanent  orchard,  a  great  advantage 
is  reaped,  for  the  temporary  trees  will,  if  the  land  is 
good,  bear  a  large  quantity  of  fruit,  and  amply  repay 
their  cost,  which  is  trifling ;  for  whereas  ninety-five 
trees  are  required  to  plant  one  acre,  twenty-four  feet 
apart,  by  the  above  method  142  may  be  planted.  I 


STANDARD   ORCHARD   TREES.  HI 

liave  mentioned  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years  as  the 
probable  time  when  the  temporary  trees  may  be  re- 
moved ;  as  this  depends  entirely  upon  the  quality  of 
the  soil  and  the  progress  they  have  made,  a  more  cer- 
tain rule  to  lay  down  is,  that,  as  soon  as  the  outside 
shoots  of  the  trees  touch  each  other,  the  temporary 
trees  should  be  removed.  I  need  scarcely  write  the 
usual  directions  as  to  the  trees  being  fenced  round, 
if  horses  and  cows  are  turned  into  the  orchard — that 
the  trees  should  have  stems  at  least  six  feet  in  height, 
and  the  lower  branches  should  be  taken  off  as  soon 
as  they  become  depressed  enough  for  cattle  to  browse 
on  them.  One  direction  I  feel,  however,  bound  to 
give — a  circle  from  three  to  four  feet  in  diameter 
round  each  tree  should  be  kept  clear  of  grass  and 
weeds  for  at  least  five  years  from  the  time  of  planting ; 
after  that  period,  grass  may  be  allowed  to  cover  all 
the  surface,  as  in  old  orchards. 

In  preparing  the  slips  by  trenching,  if  the  subsoil 
be  poor  and  stony,  it  should  not  be  brought  to  the 
surface,  but  be  merely  turned  over  with  the  spade, 
and  some  manure  mixed  with  it,  keeping  the  turf — • 
well  chopped — and  the  loose  mould  on  the  surface. 
If  the  soil  be  wet,  drains  four  feet  deep  should  be 
made  twenty-four  feet  apart,  one  in  the  centre  of  the 
space  between  each  row  of  trees  ;  they  should  be  made 
with  loose  stones,  which  are  far  better  than  pipes  for 
orchards.  The  bottom  of  the  drain  should  be  filled  to 
the  depth  of  eighteen  inches  with  loose  stones,  and 
then  filled  in  with  the  soil  of  the  orchard.  The  soils 
best  adapted  for  orchard  trees  are,  first,  loams  with  a 
subsoil  of  limestone ;  second,  loams  resting  on  a  dry 


112  THE   MINIATURE   FRUIT   GARDEN. 

stony  subsoil;  third,  loams  resting  on  clay — these 
should  be  drained.  Light  sandy  loams,  with  a  subsoil 
of  sand,  chalk,  and  gravel,  are  not  adapted  for  stand- 
ard orchard  trees,  unless  the  staple  of  loam  is  from 
three  to  four  feet  thick. 

PROPER   DISTANCES   FOR   PLANTING   PYRAMIDAL   AND 
OTHEK    FRUIT   TRKES. 

Pyramidal  pear  trees  and  bushes  on  quince  stocks, 
to  be  cultivated  as  root-pruned  trees,  for  small  gar- 
dens, four  feet  apart. 

The  same,  in  larger  gardens,  not  root-pruned,  six 
feet  apart. 

Pyramidal  pear  trees  on  the  pear  stock,  root-pruned, 
six  feet  apart. 

The  same,  roots  not  pruned,  eight  to  ten  feet — the 
latter  if  the  soil  be  very  rich. 

Horizontal  espalier  pear  trees  on  the  quince  stock, 
for  rails  or  walls,  ten  feet  apart. 

Upright  espaliers  on  the  quince  stock,  for  rails  or 
walls,  four  to  six  feet  apart. 

Horizontal  espaliers  on  the  pear  stock,  for  rails  or 
walls,  twenty  feet  apart. 

Pyramidal  plum  trees,  six  feet  apart. 

Espalier  plum  trees,  twenty  feet  apart. 

Pyramidal  and  bush  apple  trees  on  the  Paradise 
stock,  root-pruned,  for  small  gardens,  three  to  four 
feet  apart. 

The  same,  roots  not  pruned,  four  to  six  feet  apart. 

Espalier  apple  trees  on  the  Paradise  stock,  fifteen 
feet  apart. 

The -same  on  the  crab  stock,  twenty  feet  apart. 


STANDARD   ORCHARD   TREES.  H3 

Peaches  and  nectarines,  for  walls,  fifteen  to  twenty 
feet  apart. 

Apricots,  for  walls,  twenty  feet  apart. 

Cherries,  as  bushes  and  pyramids  on  the  Mahal eb 
stock,  root-pruned,  for  small  gardens,  four  feet  apart. 

The  same,  roots  not  pruned,  six  feet  apart. 

Pyramidal  cherries  on  the  common  cherry  stock, 
six  feet  apart. 

Espalier  cherry  trees,  for  rails  or  walls,  fifteen  to 
twenty  feet  apart. 

Proper  distances  for  trees  against  dwarf  walls, 
annually  or  biennially  removed  (see  page  37). 

Pears  on  quince  stocks,  five  feet  apart. 

Peaches,  nectarines,  apricots,  and  plums,  five  feet 
apart. 

Cherries  and  applesj  five  feet  apart. 


APPENDIX. 


THE   PEACH   TKELLIS    OF   THOMAS   WHITE,  ESQ.,    MANOR 
HOUSE,    WEATHEKSEIELD,  ESSEX. 

Lsr  the  autumn  of  the  year  1851,  Mr.  White,  while 
walking  through  the  grounds  here,  happened  to  see  my 
small  Ker's  trellis  with  movable  lights,  and  on  his  re- 
turn home  the  idea  occurred  to  him  that  it  might  be 
enlarged,  and  the  principle  improved  upon,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  grow  fruit  enough  for  a  large  family.  In  the 
autumn  of  that  year,  he  accordingly  built  a  trellis-house 
of  the  following  dimensions : — 

Length        ,        ,        .        ,        .  .80  feet. 

Width  (inside) 12  feet. 

Height  at  back   .        ,         .  .8  feet. 

Height  at  front    ,         ,         .         .  .14:  inches. 

Rafters  (fixed  20  inches  apart)     .  .  14  feet  long. 

Trellis  (15  inches  from  the  glass)  .  .13  feet  wide. 

Sunken  path  in  centre         .         .  .2  feet  deep. 

The  front  and  back  plates  both  rest  on  larch  poles 
about  four  or  five  feet  apart ;  a  shutter,  twelve  inches 
wide,  on  hinges,  forms,  with  a  slip  of  board,  the  front 
wall.  The  back  wall  is  made  with  long  fagots  of 
brushwood — a  double  row ;  the  ends  are  boarded  up, 
and  a  door  is  at  each  end.  Perhaps  no  gardening 
structure  was  ever  built  so  cheaply,  and  none  ever  pro- 


116  APPENDIX. 

duced  such  marvellous  effects.  The  trees — dwarf  and 
standard  trained  peaches  and  nectarines,  two  or  three 
years  trained,  twelve  of  the  former  and  six  of  the  lat- 
ter— were  planted  in  February,  1852  ;  and  in  the  sea- 
son of  1854,  only  the  third  year  of  their  growth,  they 
bore  5,000  peaches  and  nectarines.  On  one  tree  of  the 
Noblesse  Peach  there  wrere  500  peaches,  and  the  same 
number  or  more  on  a  tree  of  the  Elruge  Nectarine. 
This  seemed  enough  to  ruin  the  health  of  the  trees, 
and  so  I  thought  when  I  heard  of  it ;  but  when  I  saw 
the  .excessive  vigor  of  the  trees,  I  thought  Mr.  White 
and  his  gardener  not  so  far  wrong  in  allowing  them  to 
bear  such  an  enormous  crop.  The  dwarf  trees  have 
reached  to  the  top  of  the  trellis  and  covered  it  com- 
pletely. 

Mr.  White  was,  I  believe,  offered  the  sum  that  the 
house  cost  him — somewhere  about  £40 — for  his  crop 
of  peaches  and  nectarines  in  1854.  The  vigor  of  the 
trees  is  quite  astonishing;  the  stems  of  some  of  them 
are  twelve  or  more  inches  in  circumference;  they  are 
planted  inside  the  front  shutter,  and  laid  directly  on 
the  trellis.  The  remarkable  success  of  this  simple 
structure  seems  owing  entirely  to  the  perfection  of  its 
ventilation ;  the  front  shutter  has  been  open  night  and 
day  in  warm  weather,  and  the  air  passes  gently  and 
constantly  through  its  brushwood  back  wall,  so  as  en- 
tirely to  prevent  staguation.  The  trees  have  been 
syringed  regularly  night  and  morning,  and  are  in  the 
finest  possible  health. 

As  the  brushwood  wall  is  unsightly  and  dangerous 
in  some  situations,  owing  to  its  capability  of  harbor- 
ing rats  and  mice,  we  must  now  see  what  can  be  substi- 


APPENDIX. 

tuted  for  its  perfect  ventilating  property.  Hedges  to 
lean-to  houses,  as  I  know  from  experience,  are  too  cold 
to  ripen  peaches  and  nectarines,  although  highly  fa- 
vorable to  the  growth  of  the  trees ;  it  therefore  ap- 
pears to  me  that  the  perforated  bricks,  now  largely 
manufactured,  could  be  used  with  advantage  in  this 
way.  The  wall,  eight  feet  in  height,  should  be  built 
five  feet  from  the  ground  with  common  bricks  ;  and 
then,  three  feet  up  to  the  top  for  the  plate  to  rest  on^ 
with  perforated  bricks,  placed  edgewise.  In  very  cold 
weather  in  March,  when  the  trees  are  in  blossom,  a 
curtain  of  calico,  or  any  other  convenient  material, 
might  be  arranged  so  as  to  cover  this  space  of  the  per- 
forated wall  at  night,  and  in  May  it  may  be  removed 
for  the  summer.  This  perforated  space,  with  the  front 
shutter  constantly  open,  will,  in  my  opinion,  be  perfect 
for  a  peach  trellis,  and  not  unsightly. 

It  will  be  seen,  from  what  I  have  said  that  Mr. 
White's  trellis  differs  from  Mr.  Ker's  in  this  way — the 
roof  is  fixed,  and  not  of  removable  lights ;  the  trees 
are  pruned  and  the  fruit  is  gathered  from  underneath, 
so  that  all  the  operations  of  culture  are  performed  un- 
der shelter,  and  in  a  climate  at  all  times  favorable. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  Mr.  White  has  had  his 
fagot-wall  removed,  and  glass  placed  at  the  back,  at 
a  sharp  angle  of  30  degrees.  Under  this  are  trained 
peaches  and  nectarines,  which  succeed  those  under  the 
•front  glass.  The  effect  is  excellent ;  and  the  trees,  the 
late  warm  summer  (1858),  ripened  their  fruit  well, 
although  the  slope  is  to  the  northeast.  In  cool  seasons, 
it  is  to  be  feared,  the  flavor  of  the  fruit  will  suffer. 

The  following  letter,  from  a  very  clever  amateur 


118  APPENDIX. 

fruit  cultivator,  will,  I  think,  be  found  interesting  to 
those  who  wish  to  make  the  most  of  a  small  garden : — 

"  To  Mr.  Eivers. 

"  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  derived  much  pleasure  from 
the  cultivation  of  fruit  trees  in  the  different  modes  in- 
troduced by  you — as  pyramids,  bushes,  and  in  pots, 
under  glass ;  and  you  will  be  glad  to  hear,  as  I  am  to 
tell  you,  that  the  pleasure  has  been  greatly  enhanced 
by  success.  Wishing  to  have  a  good  many  fruit  trees, 
and  my  garden  being  a  small  one,  I  have  resorted  to 
many  contrivances  to  make  the  most  of  my  space ;  and 
knowing  that  the  subject  is  one  interesting  to  you,  I 
venture  to  give  you  an  account  of  some  of  them. 

"  About  seven  years  ago,  I  put  down  on  the  east  and 
west  borders  of  one  of  my  squares  a  row  of  stout  and 
straight  larch  poles,  eighteen  inches  in  the  ground, 
four  feet  above  it,  and  three  feet  apart.  These  were 
sheeted,  on  the  side  next  the  walk,  with  half-inch 
boards,  on  the  top  of  which  was  placed  a  rail  two 
inches  wide ;  stays  were  fixed  against  each  end  and 
against  the  centre,  to  prevent  shaking  by  the  wind ; 
and  all  got  two  coats  of  paint.  The  entire  cost  of  the 
structure,  exclusive  of  the  poles,  which  I  happened 
previously  to  have,  was  sixpence  for  each  running  foot. 
Against  these  walls  I  planted,  on  the  side  next  the 
walk,  dwarf-trained  pear  trees  on  quince  stocks,  and 
some  plum  trees.  I  then  went  to  the  other  side  of  my 
wall,  and  planted  there  as  many  more  trees — placing 
them  intermediately  between  those  at  the  opposite  side, 
so  that  the  roots  of  one  should  not  interfere  with  those 
of  another.  I  had  thus,  on  the  space  usually  occupied 


APPENDIX. 

by  a  single  line  of  open  espaliers,  a  double  number  of 
fruit  trees,  one  half  of  them  having  an  eastern  and  the 
other  a  western  wall.  The  second  year  from  planting 
I  was  rewarded  by  a  nice  crop  :  and  although  the  trees 
were  then  young,  the  fruit,  had  I  been  disposed  to  sell 
it,  would  have  realized  more  than  the  original  cost  of 
the  walls  :  and  this  last  year  I  have  had  against  them 
as  fine  crops  of  Beurre  d'Amanlis,  Thompson's,  Gan- 
sel's  Bergamot  (double  grafted  on  the  quince),  Wil- 
liarns's  Bon  Chretien,  Chaumontel,  and  other  pears,  as 
need  be  desired,  and  also  fair  crops  of  greengage,  pur- 
ple gage,  and  Kirke's  plums. 

"  I  have  not  adopted  wooden  walls  along  my  north 
or  south  borders,  because  one  side  would  be  useless ; 
but  instead  of  them  I  nailed  cheap  calico  at  the  north 
side  of  some  of  my  espalier  rails  which  run  east  and 
west,  thus  giving  to  the  trees  next  the  walk  a  southern 
aspect.  The  calico  is  secured  to  the  posts  and  to  the 
rail  at  top  by  tape,  in  which  numerous  tacks  are 
driven.  When  first  put  up,  it  got  a  good  coat  of  oil 
and  black  paint,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  small 
holes  made  by  accident,  and  which  can  easily  be  re- 
paired, it  is  now,  in  its  third  year,  strong  as  ever,  tight 
as  a  drum,  and  having  the  appearance  and  something 
of  the  sound  of  sheet-iron.  I  grew  against  those  cot- 
ton walls  this  past  year  as  fine  crops  of  Josephine  de 
Malines,  Marechal  de  la  Cour,  Beurre  d'Aremberg, 
and  Marie  Louise  pears,  as  the  most  ardent  horticultu- 
rist could  desire. 

"  There  is  another  mode  in  which  I  have  cultivated 
fruit  trees ;  but  it  is  right  to  say  that  the  idea,  although 
I  had  not  seen  it  put  into  practice  elsewhere,  was  taken 
6* 


APPENDIX. 

by  me  from  the  *  Orchard  and  Fruit  Garden,'  by 
Mackintosh.  I  cut  back  to  three  or  four  buds  some 
maiden  pear  trees  grafted  on  the  quince,  and  when 
they  threw  out  three  shoots  I  tied  them  down,  so  as  to 
give  to  each  a  horizontal  direction.  The  following 
year  I  placed  round  them  eight  stakes,  about  eighteen 
inches  from  the  stem,  and  equidistant  from  each  other, 
and  outside  those  stakes  the  branches  were  trained  in 
a  spiral  form.  I  transferred  some  of  those  to  the  bor- 
ders of  the  walk  leading  to  my  orchard  house.  The 
stakes  round  which  .the  branches  are  trained  are 
painted  white,  and  secured  in  their  proper  positions  by 
a  hoop  of  round  iron  fastened  inside  the  top.  The  trees 
look  well  and  bear  well.  A  Passe  Colmar  managed 
in  this  way  was  loaded  with  fruit  last  year,  and  attract- 
ed much  attention.  I  consider  that  this  plan  possesses 
many  advantages — the  trees  may  be  kept  near  the 
ground,  and  thus  have  more  heat ;  the  air  circulates 
freely  inside;  then  the  sun  shines  on  every  branch  du- 
ring some  portion  of  the  day,  and  the  fruit,  however 
large,  is  not  liable  to  be  blown  down.  The  method 
might  be  called,  not  inappropriately,  after  that  ancient 
and  useful  instrument  the  corkscrew  ;  but,  if  you  find 
the  term  too  homely,  let  it  be  en  tire-bo  a  chon. 

"  With  best  wishes  for  your  long  life  and  health, 
both  for  your  own  sake  and  for  the  interests  of  horti- 
culture, on  which  you  have  already  conferred  so  many 
benefits, 

"  I  remain,  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  JOSEPH  MEADOWS." 


APPE5DOL 
TETE   GEOOFD  TTSTEBT. 


T-        ^..       -,  •  .  :  -  —  -  — 

•  Y  •  Y  •  f  •  ,  •  ,  '      :; 

JtaLtt 

«  Apcrtere  4  feefces  **».  far  the  e*n»  «f  fat 


The  "  Curate's  Yinerr,"  described  in  the  tenth  edi- 
tion, was  contrived  by  Dr.  S.  Xewingtoo,  of  Tiee- 
horst  —  "  Sigma"  —  and  consisted  of  a  ridge  of  glass 
placed  over  a  furrow  lined  with  slates,  so  that  die 
bunches  of  grapes  were  suspended  in  the  furrow,  and 
in  warm  seasons  ripened  well  One  objection  to  the 
furrow  was  its  liability  to  be  filled  with  water  in  wet 
weather,  in  low  situations  and  heavy  aofl&  I  there- 
fore sought  to  remedy  this,  and  one  day,  about  the 
end  of  June,  I860,  1  found  myself  looking  into  my 
original  -  Curate's  Vinery,"  and  admiring  the  Tines 
then  in  blossom,  although  those  within  a  few  yards  of 
|  /owing  in  the  open  air,  wore  scarcely  in  full  leafl 
I  pictured  to  myself  the  bunches  of  grapes  suspended 
from  the  vines  in  the  warm,  moist  atmosphere  of  the 
trench  lined  with  slates.  My  thoughts  then  reverted 
to  my  boyish  grape-loving  days,  when,  in  an  old  vine- 
van!  planted  by  my  grandfather,  I  always  looked  for 
some  ripe  grapes  about  the  end  of  September  ;  and  I 
ily  remembered  that  I  always  found  the  best  and 


122  APPENDIX. 

ripest  bunches  with  the  largest  berries  lying  on  the 
ground,  and  if  the  season  were  dry  and  warm,  they 
were  free  from  dirt,  and  delicious  (I  think  I  always 
strongly  accented  the  de\  and  so  I  gradually  travelled 
in  thought  from  bunches  of  grapes  lying  on  the 
ground  to  idem  lying  on  slates. 

The  idea  was  new,  and  I  commenced  at  once  to  put 
it  into  practice  by  building  a  "  Curate's  Vinery  "  on  a 
new  plan. 

I  therefore  placed  two  rows  of  bricks  endwise 
(leaving  four  inches  between  each  brick  for  ven- 
tilation) on  a  nice  level  piece  of  sandy  ground, 
and  then  paved  between  them  with  large  slates 
("  duchesses ")  placed  crosswise.  I  am,  however, 
inclined  to  think  that  tiles  may  be  preferable  to 
slates ;  absorption  of  heat  is  greater  and  radiation 
slower.  On  the  bricks  I  placed  two  of  the  ridges 
of  glass,  as  given  in  the  foregoing  figure,  each 
7  feet  long,  and  thus  formed  my  vinery,  1.4  feet  in 
length.  The  vine  lies  in  the  centre  of  the  vinery,  and 
is  pegged  down  through  the  spaces  between  the  slates. 
One  vine  will  in  the  course  of  two  years  fill  a  vinery 
of  this  length ;  but,  to  reap  the  fruits  of  my  project 
quickly,  I  planted  two  vines,  one  in  the  centre,  the 
other  at  the  northeast  end;  for  these  structures 
should  stand  northeast  and  southwest.  One  of  these 
vines,  which  had  been  growing  in  a  pot  in  the  open 
air,  was  just  beginning  to  show  its  fruit-buds — it  was 
quite  the  last  of  June — its'fruit  ripened  early  in  Oc- 
tober, and  were  fully  colored  and  good  in  spite  of  the 
cloudy,  cold  autumn.  My  black  Hamburgh  grapes  in 
my  ground  vineries  were  fully  ripe  in  1802  by  the 


APPENDIX.  123 

first  week  in  October.  I  therefore  feel  well  assured 
that  grapes  lying  on  a  floor  of  slates,  such  as  I  have 
described,  will  ripen  from  two  to  three  weeks  earlier 
than  in  vineries  of  this  description  with  a  furrow,  and 
as  early  as  grapes  in  a  common  cold  vinery.  Black 
Hamburghs  and  other  kinds  of  grapes  not  requiring 
fire  heat  may  thus  be  grown  in  any  small  garden  at  a 
trifling  expense.  I  am,  indeed,  disposed  to  hope  that 
the  Frontignans,  and  nearly  all  but  the  Muscats,  may 
be  ripened  by  this  method,  so  intense  is  the  heat  of 
the  slated  floor  on  a  sunny  day  in  July. 

Some  persons  may  think  that  the  heat  would  be 
scorching,  and  that  the  leaves  and  grapes  would  alike 
become  frizzled ;  but  few  gardeners  know  the  extreme 
heat  a  bunch  of  grapes  can  bear.  I  remember  a  lady 
friend,  who  had  resided  some  time  at  Smyrna,  telling 
me  that  one  afternoon  at  the  end  of  summer,  when 
the  grapes  were  ripening,  she  was  sitting  in  her  draw- 
ing-room and  admiring  some  large  bunches  of  grapes 
hanging  on  a  vine  which  was  growing  against  a  wall 
in  the  full  sunshine.  Kupwing  the  danger  of  going 
into  the  open  air  without  a  parasol,  she  rushed  out, 
cut  a  bunch  of  grapes,  and  returned  to  her  seat  in 
the  shady  room.  The  bunch  of  grapes  was  so  hot 
that  she  was  obliged  to  shift  it  from  hand  to  hand.  I 
observed  in  the  hot  weather  we  had  in  July,  1859,  one 
or  two  branches  of  Muscat  grapes,  nearly  touching 
the  chimney  of  the  stove  in  which  a  fire  was  kt'pt  up 
every  morning,  gradually  turning  into  raisins.  I  felt 
some  of  them  when  the  sun  was  shining  on  them  ;  they 
were  not  burning  hot,  but  next  to  it. 

1  allowed  them  to  dry  into  raisins,  and  very  fine 


124:  APPENDIX. 

they  were,  but  not  better  than  the  finest  imported 
from  Spain. 

With  respect  to  the  superior  ripening  power  of 
slates  or  tiles  placed  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  I  was 
much  interested  in  once  hearing  a  travelled  friend  say 
that,  when  he  was  at  Paros,  he  observed  many  vines 
trained  up  the  marble  rocks  peculiar  to  the  island ; 
and  in  all  cases  the  grapes  lying  on  the  surface,  which 
was  almost  a  continuous  mass  of  rock,  were  ripe,  while 
those  a  few  feet  from  it,  on  the  same  vine,  some  of  the 
branches  of  which  were  trained  up  the  wall-like 
rocks,  were  quite  green.  In  telling  me  this,  he  said 
he  was  never  more  impressed  with  the  ripening  power 
of  the  earth's  surface. 

I  have,  in  giving  the  figure  and  description  of  the 
ground  vinery,  made  it  adapted  for  one  vine,  the 
width  of  it  being  2  feet  6  inches  only.  If  this  width 
be  increased  to  3  feet  6  inches,  two  vines  can  be  trained 
under  the  same  roof  14  inches  apart,  and  thus  at  a 
trifling  additional  cost  double  produce  can  be  obtained. 
- 1  have  very  recently  planted  some  peach  trees  in  one 
of  these  slate-paved  vineries,  and  feel  assured  that 
very  early  and  very  fine  peaches  can  be  grown  in  such 
places.  I  have  managed  my  trees  in  this  way — I 
took  two  pyramids  full  of  blossom-buds,  cut  off  the 
shoots  on  one  side  so  that  the  stem  would  lie  flat,  and 
I  then  pegged  it  down  with  hooks  made  of  stout  iron 
wire,  thrusting  them  into  the  soil  between  the  inter- 
stices of  the  slates. 

Cultivators  will  think  of  red  spider  making  his 
home  in  such  (for  him)  a  happy,  hot  place ;  but  he 
in  ay  be  made  so  uncomfortable  by  keeping  flowers  of 


APPENDIX.  125 

sulphur  strewed  over  the  slates  till  near  the  ripening 
season,  that  no  inconvenience  need  be  apprehended. 
It  will  be  perceived  that  the  ventilation  is  all  lateral, 
and,  on  the  same  principle  as  that  of  my  orchard- 
houses,  nothing  can  be  more  perfect.  In  the  figure  it 
will  be  seen  I  have  left  a  small  aperture  under  the 
apex  of  the  roof  for  the  escape  of  rarefied  air.  In 
very  hot  weather  this  may  be  useful,  but  in  my  slate- 
floored  ground  vineries  I  have  not  done  this,  and  yet 
the  ventilation  is  perfect.  I  have  not  yet  ascertained 
in  what  manner  the  heated  air  escapes.  The  venti- 
lating apertures  are  all  on  the  surface  of  the  soil,  and 
at  the  same  level ;  but  I  suppose  it  stoops  to  get  out, 
having  no  other  mode  of  egress. 

DIMENSIONS    OF    GROUND   VINERIES. 
2fo.  1,  for  a  single  vine  in  centre. 

Width  at  base 30  inches. 

Slope  of  roof    .         .         .         .         .20  inches. 
Depth  in  centre        .         .         .         .16  inches. 

No.  2,  for  two  vines  14  iiicJies  apart. 

"Width  at  base 42  inches. 

Slope  of  roof    .         .         .         .         .28  inches. 

Depth  in  centre        .         .         .         .20  inches. 

These  dimensions  need  not  be  arbitrary,  for  ground 
vineries  of  larger  dimensions  may  be  made  with  every 
chance  of  success,  and  Hamburgh  grapes  grown  in 
Bedfordshire  instead  of  cucumbers;  for  no  part  of 
England  can  be  more  favorable  to  grape  culture  than 
the  fertile,  sandy  districts  of  a  portion  of  that  county. 
We  have  heard  of  forty  acres  of  cucumbers  being 
grown  for  pickling,  and  one  day  we  may  hear  of  forty 


126  APPENDIX. 

acres  of  grapes  in  ground  vineries  in  some  favorable 
locality.    To  form  the  vinery  No.  1,  p.  125,  two  seven- 
feet  lengths  are   required ;   these  I  find  from  expe- 
rience are  better  made  of  wood  than  iron,  which  is 
heavy  and  expensive  ;  they  are  now  made  three  feet 
wide  at  base,  and  sold  by  Mr.  J.  Rivett,  Stratford, 
Essex,  at  from  65s.  to  70s.  per  dozen,  unglazed  and 
unpainted.    Their  size  may  also  be  increased  to  3  feet 
6  inches,  as  in  No.  2,  but  they  must  then  be  placed 
on  a  wall  two  bricks  in  height,  leaving  apertures,  four 
or  five  inches  wide  and  six  inches  deep,  for  ventila- 
tion ;  this  increase  of  ventilation  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary with  No.  2.    The  glass  used  should  be  21  oz.,  as 
16  oz.  is  too  slight.     As  the  vines  in  ground  vineries 
often  put  forth  their  young  shoots  early  in  May,  and 
are  apt  to  be  injured  by  a  severe  May  frost,  it  is  good 
practice  to  keep  some  refuse  hay  strewed  over  the 
glass  when  there  is  any  chance  of  frost  in  that  month. 
In  gardens  where  these  glass  ridge  roofs  are  not 
wanted  for  vines  or  fruit  tree  culture,  they  will  be 
found  most  useful.    They  may  be  placed  on  any  warm 
border  on  bricks ;  and  early  peas,  French  beans,  and 
many  other  early  vegetables,  requiring  protection  from 
spring  frosts,  be  grown  under  them  with  advantage. 
For  the  cultivation  of  early  strawberries  they  are  in- 
valuable, as  they  not  only  hasten  the  ripening  period, 
but  protect  the  fruit  from   heavy  summer  showers, 
often  so  injurious  to  the  crop,  and  also  from  birds. 
Strawberry  plants,  to  be  cultivated  in  ground  vineries, 
s'lould  be  planted  early  in  autumn,  in  narrow  beds  of 
two  or  three  rows,  the  plants  close  together  in  the 
rows,  so  as  to  take  full  advantage  of  the  glass-covered 


APPENDIX.  127 

space.  The  rows  should  be  9  inches  apart ;  the  beds 
should  be  made  every  season  on  a  fresh  piece  of  rich 
soil ;  and  as  much  fruit  as  can  possibly  be  grown  in 
such  a  limited  space  must  be  the  aim  of  the  cultiva- 
tor. In  all  cases  the  ridges  should  be  placed  on 
bricks,  with  spaces  between  them.  Ventilation  is 
then  secured ;  and  even  cauliflower  plants  in  winter 
will  do  well  without  the  constant  attention  to  "  giving 
air,"  so  necessary  in  the  old  garden  frame  culture. 
Lettuces,  for  early  salads,  succeed  admirably  in  these 
structures ;  they  should  be  planted  in  October.  In 
gardens  that  are  confined  and  very  warm,  I  repeat,  it 
may  be  necessary  to  have  a  small  opening  left  at  the 
top,  at  #,  in  the  figure,  just  under  the  ridge,  to  let  out 
the  heated  air,  and  two  rows  of  bricks  instead  of  one ; 
but  my  vineries  stand  in  a  very  exposed  place,  and  do 
not  require  it.  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  tell  my  readers 
the  perfect  success  of  my  ground  vineries  this  season 
(1864).  In  four  of  them  are  growing  four  varieties, 
one  in  each  vinery,  viz.,  Trenthain  Black,  Black 
Hamburgh,  Buckland  Sweetwater,  and  La  Bruxelloise. 
On  these  four  vines  are  100  bunches ;  their  berries 
now  (August  10)  swelling  rapidly.  The  only  culture 
they  have  had  has  been  taking  off  about  half  the 
number  of  bunches  they  produced,  thinning  the  ber- 
ries and  stopping  the  shoots.  No  syringing,  no  water- 
ing has  been  required,  and  not  a  red  spider  or  any 
other  blight  is  to  be  seen. 

Any  suburban  garden  10  yards  square,  if  in  a  sunny 
situation,  may  have  one  or  two  of  these  vineries ;  the 
occupier  may  grow  his  own  black  Hamburgh  grapes 
known  by  most  Londoners  as  "  Hothouse  grapes." 


128  APPENDIX- 

POSTSCKIPT. 


September  8,  1865. 


Such  a  season  as  the  present  has  never  been  expe- 
rienced since  the  invention  of  ground  vineries.  A 
fine  vine  here  of  the  Trentham  Black  grape  occupies 
five  seven-feet  lengths,  and  is,  of  course,  thirty-five 
feet  long;  this  is  bearing  fifty Jiice  sized  bunches  of 
grapes,  now  fully  ripe.  Another  vine,  the  Black 
Hamburgh,  is  also  bearing  a  fine  crop  of  sixty-three 
medium-si^d  bunches,  the  grapes  full-sized,  finely 
colored,  and  fast  approaching  to  ripeness.  There 
seems  to  be  a  most  agreeable  and  animating  prospect 
of  these  neat-looking  and  most  useful  structures  occu- 
pying thousands  of  small  gardens,  and  giving  the 
luxury  of  fine  ripe  grapes  to  many  who  are  capable 
of  appreciating  and  enjoying  them. 

The  first  idea  of  one  vine  only  occupying  two 
seven-feet  lengths  is  put  to  rest,  for  in  a  good  soil  the 
vines  are  so  vigorous  that,  although  they  may  be 
shortened  so  as  to  be  confined  to  fourteen  feet,  there 
is  no  reason  why  one  vine  should  not  extend  to  one 
hundred  feet,  adding  annually  one  or  two  lengths  as 
required.  I  am  inclined  to  hope  that  I  shall  live  to 
see  my  favorite  Trentham  Black  reach  that  length. 


September  21,  1865. 

I  find  to-day  that  the  grapes  on  bunches  hanging 
from  the  upright  spurs  of  my  Black  Hamburgh  vine, 
just  under  the  apex  of  the  roof  of  one  of  my  ground 
vineries,  and  a  trifle  over  one  foot  from  the  ground — 


APPENDIX.  129 

in  short,  just  where  they  would  hang  if  suspended 
from  a  wire  in  the  centre — are  nearly  or  quite  ripe  ; 
the  bunches  on  the  slates  are  not  quite  in  so  forward 
a  state  of  ripeness,  but  the  ripest  of  all  are  the  bunches 
hanging  so  that  their  tips  touch  the  slates.  This,  I 
hope,  has  settled  the  question,  so  that  we  may  now 
have  our  vines  trained  to  wires  in  ground  vineries, 
and  calculate  that,  if  the  bunches  are  suspended  so 
as  to  touch  or  partially  lie  on  the  slates,  thus  benetit- 
ing  by  their  radiation  of  heat,  grapes  will  ripen  well. 


131 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Apple — American  blight,  cur©  for 65 

Burr  knot  stock  .......  61 

Bushes  on  Paradise  stock 67 

Bushes  for  a  market  garden 69 

Dormant  buds,  to  notch .64 

Double  lateral  cordon 77 

Doucin  stock 60 

In  pots  62.  66 

Pomme  de  Paradis 62 

Pyramid,  summer  pinching  of  ....  66 

Pyramidal,  on  crab 80 

Root-pruning  of 63 

Selection  of  sorts 67.  68 

Summer  pinching  of  bushes 68 

Single  lateral  cordon 75 

To  keep  hares  from  ....  (note)  69 

Vertical  Cordon 79 

Apricot — Pyramidal 95 

Cherry — As  bushes 85 

Biennial  removal  of 92 

Cure  for  Aphis (note)  89 

Double-grafting  of 91 

On  the  common  stock 91 

On  the  Mahaleb  stock 85 

Pruning  of 85 

Pyramidal 87 

Selection  of  sorts 89.  94 

Summer  pinching  of 87 

Vertical  cordons 89 

Compact  pyramids 11 


132  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Currant — Pyramidal          .         .         . 95 

Double-grafting  of  fruit  trees 102 

Dwarf  walls,  proper  distance  for  trees 37 

Fig,  as  half-standards  and  bushes 97 

Filbert,  as  standards 96 

Fruit  trees — Advantages  of  root-pruning  of         .        .  48 

Biennial  removal  of 98 

Distances  to  plant 112 

Glass  fruit  ridge 78 

Ground  vinery    .        . 121 

Labels  for  fruit  trees (note)  15 

Market  garden  bush  pear  trees    .         .         .        .         .        .  54 

apple  trees G9 

Medlar — Pyramidal 95 

Moss  on  trees,  to  destroy (note)  101 

Old  fruit  trees,  root-pruning  of    ......  47 

Peach  border,  how  to  prepare 106 

compost  for 99 

on  dwarf  walls 38 

trellis 115 

Pear — As  a  hedge 43 

As  bushes  on  the  quince  stock           ....  17 

Biennial  root-pruning  of  wall  trees        ....  40 

Budding  with  fruit  buds            .        .        .               (note)  6 

Bushes  for  a  market  garden           .....  54 

Corkscrew,  training  of 120 

Dormant  buds,  to  notch         ......  6 

Double-grafted (note)    15.  103 

Espaliers  on  quince  stocks 40 

For  dwarf  walls 35 

Gathering  the  fruit 56 

Keeping  fruit  in  a  greenhouse.           ....  59 

Mature  pyramid 7 

Number  of  fruit  on             2 

Ornamental  pyramids  of 19 

Planting 50 

Proper  time  to  plant 2 

Protecting  wall  trees 108 

Protectors  for 20 

Pruning 10 


INDEX.  133 

PAGE 

Pear — Pyramid  on  the  pear  stock 44 

Quenouille 3 

Root-pruning  of,  on  the  pear  stock        ....  44 

Root-pruning  on  quince 12 

Semi-pyramids  for  walls 28 

Shortening  leading  shoots 4.  6.  9 

Sorts  for  bushes             20 

pyramids 15 

upright  cordons 29 

Summer  pinching 8 

top-dressing 53 

Thinning  blossom  buds 2 

To  store  for  winter 58 

Training  en  fuseau 42 

Under  glass 32 

Upright  cordon  training 23 

Upright  cordons  for  trellises 31 

walls 24 

Wooden  walls  for 118 

Young  pyramid 4 

Plum — As  bushes            84 

On  sloe 82 

Pyramidal 81 

Selection  of  sorts 84 

Pyramidal  fruit  trees,  summer  pinching  of                .        .        .  11 

alternate  root-pruning  of  .        .     (note)  12 

labels  for        ....        (note)  15 

planting (note)  50 

Standard  orchard  trees 109 

Strawberries  in  ground  vinery 126 


UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA 
BRANCH    OF    THE    COLLEGE    OF    AGRICULTURE 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  BATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


1  2  43 


5m-8/26 


s* 


UBRARYJ/ANcifoF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE 


